Hedge Funds Post Best Month of the Year With 2% October Return

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds produced their strongest performance of the year in October.

Returns averaged 2.1 percent last month, bringing gains for this year to 6.7 percent on an asset-weighted basis, according to a report Tuesday from Hedge Fund Research Inc. February’s gain of 1 percent had been the highest return.

Equity funds are the best-performing strategy in 2017, with a gain of more than 11 percent, including a 2 percent increase last month. Still, they trail the S&P 500 Index, which rose almost 17 percent in the first 10 months of the year.

Macro funds are the year’s worst performers, climbing 3.8 percent. However, the strategy, which has struggled amid a lack of market volatility, produced its best monthly performance in October, returning 2.6 percent.

©2017 Bloomberg L.P.