Preqin: Hedge Funds Bounce Back in April
While most strategies recovered, liquid alternatives struggled for the third month in a row.
Hedge funds made a recovery from a negative previous two months, returning 0.91% in April on the Preqin All-Strategies benchmark.
After a strong January (up 1.92%), returns dipped into the red in February (-0.92%) and March (-0.63%).
Top-level strategies such as equity, multi-strategy, and macro were all in the black in April, with event-driven strategies boasting 1.19% growth for the month. The year-to-date return on event strategies is 1.48%, according to Preqin.
Funds of funds and CTAs also pulled hedge funds from the pits to kick off Q2, with commodities returning 0.76% and funds of funds bringing in 0.28%.
European and North American hedge funds did well, with the overseas funds up 1.65% percentage points—the benchmark’s best monthly return since 2016. North American funds, while not as strong as their European counterparts, were no slouch as they were up 1.04% for the month.
Preqin did find a few struggles, however, with liquid alternatives. The firm reported UCITS and alternative mutual funds could not generate positive returns to start off the new quarter as the former was flat at zero while the mutual funds trailed by a sliver, losing nine basis points. April marks the third month these two sectors have failed to produce positive results.