Global hedge fund asset flows were just slightly positive in August 2018, with USD4.74 billion added to the USD3.3 trillion-plus industry, according to eVestment’s latest Hedge Fund Industry’s Asset Flows Report.

Year to date (YTD) net flows to the industry stand at USD15.38 billion.
 
Asset flows in August were more widely dispersed across funds and strategies than in the past months. If the trend continues, that would ameliorate some concerns about industry consolidation eVestment data indicated in previous reports, which showed a minority of funds getting the majority of new money.
 
In spite of performance declines during the year, investors have resumed allocating to Macro hedge fund strategies, adding USD3.53 billion to Macro funds in August. YTD Macro funds have seen assets increase by USD15.20 billion.
 
Event Driven funds were also big asset winners in August, bringing in an additional USD2.84 billion. And while Event Driven funds are positive for the past three months as well, they’re in negative territory to the tune of -USD3.12 billion for the year.
 
Among primary strategies, only Directional Credit funds and Managed Futures funds saw AUM drop in August, with investors pulling -USD460 million and -USD2.97 billion respectively.
 
Reflecting the challenges facing Emerging Markets, nearly 70 per cent of EM managers saw outflows in August with the overall segment seeing flows of -USD540 million. And nearly 60 per cent of EM managers have YTD net outflows.