The December returns for investable indexes Dow Jones Investable Indexes, Frontier Capital Multi Asset Platform Fund versus the indexes, Hedge Fund Research Indexes and Lyxor Alternative Index.

Dow Jones
The Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index returned a positive 3.04% in December 2010, a vast improvement on November 2010 when it was down 1.04%. The latest monthly result nearly matches the impressive 3.26% rise of September 2010. The sole strategy to fall in December 2010 was dedicated short bias, down 6.43%. The strongest performer was managed futures, rising to a positive 5.02% reversing its fortunes since November when it was down 3.43%. Global macro and event driven strategies  saw strong performances, up 4.38% and 4.62% respectively. Convertible arbitrage contributed a positive return of 1.11%, slightly outpaced by equity market neutral up 1.37%, multi-strategy rising 1.39% and emerging markets putting in a positive 1.69%.

Frontier Capital
The Frontier Capital Multi Asset Platform (MAP) Fund gained 3.1% in December 2010 with six out of eight asset classes showing positive returns. Commodities was the best-performing asset class (up 10.6%) followed by emerging equities (up 7.1%) and global real estate (up 7.0%). The worst-performing asset classes were emerging bonds, down 0.7% on the month, followed by global bonds, down 0.5%. Over the five years to December 2010 the MAP strategy has generated 2.7% annualised returns with volatility of 9.6%. The Frontier Capital (MAP) is an investable fund tracking eight global asset class indices using an asset allocation inspired by US university endowments such as Harvard and Yale.

HFRX
The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index gained 2.36% for December 2010, its best performance since September 2009, bringing full year 2010 performance to a gain of 5.19%. The strongest rises were from equity hedge strategies, posting 5.19%, the best single-month gain for the strategy since February 2000. This brought year to date performance to 8.92%. Fundamental value and growth exposures gained 4.93% and 2.69% respectively, reflecting expected improvement in corporate earnings and consumer activity. Slight gains in distressed securities (1.80%), event driven (1.11%) and merger arbitrage (1.33%) were offset by the equity market neutral index, down 0.34%.

Lyxor
The Lyxor Global Hedge Fund Index was up 5.8% in 2010, gaining 2.3% in December. Equity markets finished 2010 on a strong note, with the S&P 500 posting a total return of 6.7% in December. Commodity markets generally followed the same trend with the CRB Commodity Index gaining just over 10% on the month. Short-term CTAs found traction in December, up 0.8% but falling 0.1% over the whole of 2010. Macro strategies surged 4.7% and the credit index rose 1.0% for a 10.3% gain in 2010. Fixed income arbitrage declined 0.4%, gaining 9.5% net for 2010. Event driven managers performed well with the distressed index gaining 0.6%, capping a positive 5.3% for the year. Merger arbitrage rebounded from its November decline, up 1.3% in December and demonstrating a solid 5.8% performance for 2010. Special situations managers benefited from equity and credit market performance, gaining 4.3% for December (10.3% on the year). Both the Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias Index and Long Bias Index gained 2.7%. Long bias managers recorded 6.2% gains for 2010 versus 2.3% for the Variable Bias Index. The L/S Equity Market Neutral Index gained 0.9% to eke out 1.4% on the year. The Lyxor L/S Statistical Arbitrage Index continued to struggle, up a modest 0.2% in December and bringing year-to-date performance to a lackluster negative 1.2%. The Lyxor Global Hedge Fund Index is an investable index based on Lyxor's hedge funds platform which tracks the overall hedge fund universe.