Hedge Funds Lag in November, Outperform YTD

December 17, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index increased by 0.5% in November 2001 against a 8.6% increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Index and a 5.1% increase in the MSCI World Index.

· Emerging Markets funds topped all other sectors this month, posting a 4.0% return,
· followed by funds employing long/short equity strategies, which increased by 1.1%, and
· Equity Market Neutral and Event Driven funds which both increased by 0.8%

While hedge funds may have underperformed major indices over the month, their year-to-date returns have been much better. The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index has increased by 3.2% year-to-date, outperforming

· the Down Jones Industrial Index, which has lost 8.7% of its value,
· the MSCI World Index, which is down 18.3% over the year, and
· the Nasdaq Composite, which has fallen by 21.9% since the beginning of the year.

In comparison, between January and November 2001

· the Global Macro sector has increased by 15.5%,
· Convertible Arbitrage funds are up by 14.2%, and
· Event Driven strategies have gained 10.3%.

Performance for the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index and the nine style-based sector indices are calculated monthly.  The index has returned 138.33% for the 95-month period since inception in January 1994.

The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index, comprising 370 funds as of December 1, 2001, is constructed using a database of more than 2,600 hedge funds.  It includes both US and offshore funds, but does not include funds of funds. 

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