Thursday, May 23, 2013

Can Funds Survive Bernanke?




From Bloomberg: "You have to wonder how long an industry that underperforms the broader market will stay around. Goldman Sachs published a chart today comparing the performance of hedge funds that invest in equities with the major stock-market indexes. Based on Goldman's research, the average hedge fund is up just 5.4 percent so far this year. During the same period, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index has risen 15.4 percent.

"....Then there's the lack of volatility. Hedge funds often profit from discrepancies in prices between related assets, and these tend to shrink during calm periods in financial markets  The biggest reason for the market tranquility might be the Federal Reserve's repeated assurances that it will maintain zero interest rates and provide monetary stimulus until the economy recovers, and unemployment ebbs.

"That may just account for the recent flurry of stories about how much hedge-fund managers hate Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. He's putting them out of business…."

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