Hedge Funds ended the first half in negative territory as the escalating trade war roiled global markets.
Funds declined 0.33 percent for the year and slid 0.64 percent in June, wiping out gains seen in May, according to Bloomberg Hedge Fund Database.
Year-to-date, CTA/Managed Futures strategies remained the worst performer, down 4.1 percent, due in part to currency volatility and weakness in emerging markets. In June, those strategies declined 0.43 percent.
Markets have been on edge for the last several weeks as President Donald Trump has imposed trade tariffs spurring a reprisal from China. Trade issues threaten to spread to other countries. These concerns have overshadowed economic data hinting that global growth is on track as well as the start of earnings season, which push to the forefront when there is a pause in tensions.
Here’s a look at how specific strategies performed.
| Period |
CTA/
Managed Futures |
Equity
Hedge |
Event Driven
|
Fixed Income Directional |
| June |
-0.43% |
-1.07% |
0.63% |
-0.17% |
| YTD |
-4.09 |
0.14 |
2.61 |
0.79 |
| 12 months |
4.32 |
8.10 |
5.78 |
3.74 |
| Period |
Fixed Income Relative Value |
Macro |
Multi-Strategy |
| June |
0.02% |
-0.21% |
-0.89% |
| YTD |
1.43 |
-1.09 |
-1.25 |
| 12 months |
4.21 |
1.02 |
1.69 |
Source: Bloomberg Hedge Fund Database
Overall, five of seven tracked fund strategies by Bloomberg’s Hedge Fund Database saw declines in June. For the first half of 2018, four strategies gained and three reported declines.
Here are how some sub-strategies performed in June:
In the Equity Hedge category:
- Emerging Market funds slid 2 percent
- Every one of them reported positive returns in the month, led by Merger Arbitrage, which rose 1.36 percent.
- Activist funds gained 0.07 percent in June and are up 13 percent for the first half
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