All four hedge fund strategies published by Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes posted net-of-fee gains in June 2009.

All four hedge fund strategies published by Dow Jones Hedge Fund Indexes posted net-of-fee gains in June 2009.

Considering the high volatility the market has faced in the past six months, hedge funds showed only small returns for the month, whether they were positive or negative.

Event driven, the strongest performer for the month has a gain of 1.81 per cent for the month of June, and now sits atop the other strategies for the year with a 6.25 per cent return.

Conversely, equity market neutral posted a small gain of only 0.06 per cent for the month of June and a loss of 3.38 per cent for the year.

The two remaining strategies merger arbitrage and equity long/short showed modest gains of 1.22 per cent and 0.98 per cent respectively.

Convertible arbitrage was suspended on 2 January  2009 and remained suspended through the month of June.

Distressed securities was suspended on 4 May 2009 and also remained suspended through the month of June.

On a float-adjusted basis, the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index, the only broad measure of the domestic equity market, returned 0.38 per cent in June bringing its YTD gain to 4.47 per cent.

The fixed income asset class, as measured by the Dow Jones Corporate Bond Index, gained 2.80 per cent in June for a gain of 8.24 per cent for the year.

Finally, the Dow Jones Global Total Stock Market Index, the broadest measure of global equity markets, was down 0.36 per cent for the month giving the index a positive YTD gain of 11 per cent for 2009.