Hedge funds' November performance worst since March 2020 - HFR

[December 08, 2021]  LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge funds posted their worst performance in 20 months in November, after a global market selloff sparked by concerns over the Omicron COVID variant, according to data from HedgeFund Research.

Financial markets went into a tailspin in the final week of November with U.S. stocks losing nearly 4% in the last five trading sessions of the month, after news of the variant hit headlines. Currency and bond market volatility also jumped.

The HFRI fund weighted composite Index slipped 2.2% in November, its biggest monthly fall since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic first slammed into financial markets, the hedge fund research consultancy said in a report received on Wednesday.

Equity hedge funds which invest in a mix of long and short strategies led broad declines as they were caught off guard by Omicron. The findings echo those of other hedge fund research firms such as PivotalPath.

(Reporting by Saikat Chatterjee; Editing by Sujata Rao)

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