Hedge funds started the year slightly down, but managed to out-perform the S&P 500 for the month of January, according to eVestment’s January 2015 Hedge Fund Performance Report. 

While aggregate hedge fund performance was down slightly at -0.03%, hedge funds managed to beat the S&P 500 in January by 297 basis points, the most since January 2014.

Managed futures funds gained 3.04% in January and have returned 9.07% in the past six months.

Large managed futures funds – those with AUM above USD1 billion – continued to perform strongly with returns of nearly 6% in January and more than 16% in the past six months.

Volatile situations in Europe – including the Greek elections and that country’s future in the Eurozone and the recent volatility of the Swiss Franc – have taken a toll on Europe-focused hedge funds. European equity funds posted declines of -0.65% and European credit strategies fell -3.40% in January.

India-focused funds began 2015 with excellent returns, +5.62% in January, continuing their trend of outstanding returns which produced industry leading performance in 2014. China funds also posted positive results for the month at 3.32%.

After falling -27.68% during the last highly volatile three months in that region, Russia-focused funds fell further, with performance down -4.39%.