The S&P500 index registered a positive return of 5.9 per cent for the first quarter of 2011, which was about half the level of its two previous double-digit quarterly returns, according to figures released by the Edhec-Risk Institute.
On the fixed-income market, convertible bonds had a positive, but conservative performance, while regular bonds registered their fifth consecutive negative return of -0.36 per cent, according to the report.
As the Lehman Global Bond Index also failed to reach positive territory, the Edhec-Risk Institute report believes “most hedge fund strategies could not keep up with the trend of the past months”.
“Despite the booming commodities market and the receding dollar, the repeated losses of regular bonds impaired the performances of the CTA Global strategy (-1.67 per cent) and drew its quarterly return (-0.57 per cent) into negative territory,” the report stated.
