The Index Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced the worst May of 1940, and many hedge funds that have performed remarkable well in the months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, suffered heavy losses. According to data from HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, hedge funds in the U.S. lost an average of 2.7 percent in May, against the debt crisis in Europe, the subsequent decline in shares, the euro and commodity prices, and melt the difference between yields on short and long-term U.S. securities. This is the most significant decline in hedge funds in November 2008 when for months they lost an average of 3% resulting from the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September. Almost every investment strategy has been losing in May, comment from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. Dow Jones Industrial Average sank by 7.6 percent due to fears that problems with the Greek debt will be spread to Spain and Portugal. Profits of some of the most famous hedge funds this year were deleted. “Trying to manage risk in an environment where anything can go wrong, goes wrong, it is a lost cause,” said Brad Baltar, director of Boston-based Balter Capital Management LLC. “The only defense which seems to act like this in months, is to pay everything in cash.
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