Assets in global hedge funds slipped a further 5.7% during the first half of 2009 to reach a total figure of $1.722 trillion by July, according to the latest research conducted by HedgeFund Intelligence. This drop during the first half of the year continued a decline that had begun during 2008, when there had been a particularly steep fall during the second half of the year. From a peak figure of almost $2.7 trillion reached during the first half of 2008, global hedge fund assets have now fallen by some 36%. During the second half of last year, in the midst of the global financial crisis, the fall in industry assets had been hastened by widespread negative performance – which, along with net redemptions, had also accounted for a substantial proportion of the overall decline. In the first half of this year, however, performance was generally robust, with a median...