The $2.5 trillion hedge-fund industry is headed for its worst annual performance relative to U.S. stocks since at least 2005. As Bloomberg Brief reports, the funds returned 7.1% in 2013 through November; that’s 22 percentage points less than the 29.1% return of the S&P 500, with reinvested dividends, as markets rallied to records. Hedge funds are underperforming the benchmark U.S. index for the fifth year in a row as the Fed's inexorable liquidity pushes equity markets higher (and the only way to outperform is throw every risk model out the window). Hedge funds (in aggregate) have underperformed the S&P 500 by 97 percentage points since the end of 2008.
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Ironically, a glance at the chart should explain much of it - hedge funds are "hedge" funds and appear to have done a great job managing performance over time... but in the new normal world in which we live, where downside risk is irrelevant (until it runs you over), all that matters is return (not risk-reward)...
Chart: Bloomberg Brief