Early View: Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index Posts Estimated Positive Performance of 0.17% in January

NEW YORK, Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Early estimates indicate the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index ("Broad Index") will finish up +0.17% in January (based on 74% of assets reporting).

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Key highlights for the month;

• Long/Short Equity funds outperformed major equity markets in January, finishing down an estimated 1.70% as managers' lower net exposures protected them from the full brunt of the market correction. Many managers would have finished in positive territory were it not for long positions in Technology stocks which, despite good fundamentals, fell in January on fears over the economic recovery. In general, equity markets reacted negatively to news of the Greek budget deficit and the concomitant drop of Greek bond prices as well as the Chinese central bank's credit tightening over concerns of overheating in their housing market.
• Event Driven managers had a generally positive month as a number of managers took advantage of inefficient pricing in smaller issue securities resulting from specific restructuring events as well as banks in Japan and Europe lightening their books. Credit markets generally performed well and were negatively correlated to equity markets, benefiting a number of credit-oriented managers.  
• Global Macro managers experienced mixed performance with a number of fundamentally-driven quant macro models posting positive returns after capitalizing on tactical moves in currencies and bonds. On the other hand, managers with heavy equity exposures typically underperformed.
• Managed Futures posted the worst performance among the sectors as trend followers fell prey to increased pressure in commodities markets. The DJ-UBS Commodities Index finished down 7.28% for the month, crude oil fell over 8%, and gold was down 1.47% partly as a result of the strengthening US dollar.

    
    
    Strategy Estimates
    
           Index                          Jan-10   Dec-09     2009
    
    CS/Tremont Hedge Fund Index            0.17%    0.88%    18.57%
    Convertible Arbitrage                  1.06%    2.22%    47.35%
    Dedicated Short Bias                   1.84%   -4.26%   -25.03%
    Emerging Markets                      -1.24%    1.97%    30.03%
    Equity Market Neutral                  0.13%   -0.87%     4.05%
    Event Driven                           1.39%    2.28%    20.38%
         Distressed                        2.02%    2.51%    20.95%
         Event Driven Multi-Strategy       0.94%    2.13%    19.94%
         Risk Arbitrage                    0.45%    0.38%    12.00%
    Fixed Income Arbitrage                 2.46%    0.76%    27.41%
    Global Macro                           1.11%   -1.43%    11.55%
    Long/Short Equity                     -1.70%    1.69%    19.47%
    Managed Futures                       -3.91%   -5.00%    -6.57%
    Multi-Strategy                         0.88%    1.18%    24.62%
    MSCI World                            -4.19%    1.69%    26.98%
    Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond
     Index                                 0.41%   -3.76%     6.93%
    DJ-UBS Total Return Commodities
     Index                                -7.28%    1.98%    18.91%

Estimates are based on 74% of assets reporting; final January performance will be published February 16th on Bloomberg and online at www.hedgeindex.com. For a complete description of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index, please see the index rules available at www.hedgeindex.com.

Credit Suisse Tremont Index LLC is the joint venture company of Credit Suisse Index Co., Inc., a subsidiary of Credit Suisse Co., Inc., and Tremont Group Holdings, Inc.  Credit Suisse Tremont Index LLC is headquartered at 11 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010-3629.  

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Disclosure

This document was produced by and the opinions expressed are those of Credit Suisse as of the date of writing and are subject to change without obligation to update. It has been prepared solely for information purposes and for the use of the recipient. It is not a research report. It does not constitute an offer to buy or sell securities or an invitation by or on behalf of Credit Suisse to any person to buy or sell any security. Any reference to past performance is not a guide, guarantee or indicator of future results. The information and analysis contained in this publication have been compiled or arrived at from third party sources believed to be reliable by Credit Suisse  but Credit Suisse does not make any representation as to their accuracy or completeness and does not accept liability for any loss arising from the use hereof.

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* All data was obtained from publicly available information, internally developed data and other third party sources believed to be reliable. Credit Suisse has not sought to independently verify information obtained from public and third party sources and makes no representations or warranties as to accuracy, completeness or reliability of such information.

SOURCE Credit Suisse AG