By Neil Wilson
Market events this past month - from the U.S. government support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the filing for bankruptcy by Lehman Brothers and the bailout of AIG - have come so thick and fast they have no doubt left many outside the hedge fund world reeling with bewilderment. But within hedge fund land, there already was an acute focus on just how well - or badly - hedge funds, individually and collectively, cope with the market turmoil. Everybody knows that how the funds perform through this treacherous period is likely to be crucial to future prospects in a much-changed financial world.
After the first half of the year, I felt on balance that hedge funds had generally done not too bad a job of coping with truly challenging conditions. Of course, some had major problems - such as Peloton Partners, which imploded so...