Inflows to the hedge fund industry rebounded to USD10.2 billion (0.4% of assets) in November from USD1.1 billion (0.05% of assets) in October, according to TrimTabs and BarclayHedge.

“Hedge funds took in USD107.6 billion in the first 11 months of 2014, the largest January-November inflow since 2007,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “That’s a 61% jump from USD66.9 billion in the same period a year ago.”

Hedge fund assets edged up to USD2.40 trillion in November from USD2.39 trillion in October. Assets climbed 14.5% in the past 12 months and are down just 1.6% from the all-time high of USD2.44 trillion in June 2008.

The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Hedge Fund Flow Report noted that the hedge fund industry gained 0.7% in November, recovering from October’s loss of 0.3% but underperforming the S&P 500, which rose 2.7%. In the past 12 months, hedge funds returned 4.5%, while the S&P 500 rose 16.9%.
“Equity Long Only funds performed best in November, gaining 2.3%, while Fixed Income funds had the strongest inflows at USD4.4 billion,” says Waksman.

The monthly TrimTabs/BarclayHedge Survey of Hedge Fund Managers finds that hedge fund managers’ optimism on US stocks hit the highest level of the year in December. Bullishness on the US Dollar Index is at the highest level in the four-year history of the survey. Similarly, a record-high percentage of managers expects developed market equities to outperform emerging and frontier market equities in the next six months.