Absolute Return’s updated industry medians have supported early indications of February being a strong month for the majority of hedge funds, with the Absolute Return Composite gaining an estimated 1.3%.
In particular, managed futures and commodity hedge funds have built on strong January performance to display their noncorrelation to the general market. The Commodities Index rose an impressive 5.9%, bringing its year-to-date return to an outstanding 9.41%, while the CTA Index gained an estimated 4.45%, bringing its return to 6.53%. This highlights a remarkable turnaround for the CTA index – which struggled through much of 2007, but has now returned 14.76% over the past six months. Some soaring funds have driven the gain in commodities, including the AIS Gold Fund, which rose 17.98% for the month. Another all star, the Chesapeake Diversified Program, produced its strongest monthly return since December 1989, gaining a massive 17.27% in February....