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Investing October 31, 2002
Industry Official: Hedge Funds Still Outpace Stock Mutuals
October 31, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Hedge funds may
not be tearing up the financial landscape with red-hot
performance, but they're doing better than equity mutual
funds.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
That was a key theme of a hedge fund performance report issued by George Van, chairman of Van Hedge Fund Advisors.
Van pointed out that about half of all hedge funds have been profitable year-to-date, compared with the 3% of stock funds that have been profitable through September.
The top quartile of US hedge funds has provided an average return of 16.4% this year, through September, compared to a loss of -9.2% for the top-performing quartile of equity mutual funds, Van said.
Through September, the average US hedge fund has lost -3.6%; in the same period, the Average Equity Mutual Fund (AEMF) and the S&P 500 have lost -25.0% and -28.2% respectively.
The trend is true even over the long term. Van said.
During the nearly 15 years of Van US Hedge Fund Index data, the average US hedge fund has produced a 17% compound annual return versus 8.2% for the AEMF and 11.1% for the S&P 500, Van pointed out.