Ialmost feel sorry for hedge fund managers. Not only are they finding it hard to produce positive returns in today’s markets, some also seem to have fallen on hard times.

According to Hedge Fund Research, most of their strategies are still in negative territory this year, despite a 2.9 per cent rise in the S&P 500 index in the past three months. Relative Value Arbitrage and Convertible Arbitrage funds are down 5 and 6.4 per cent collectively and respectively, Equity Hedge funds have fallen 0.9 per cent, and even Absolute Return funds – which are supposed to produce small, stable returns regardless of market conditions – have managed to lose 0.8 per cent of their value. So no 20 per cent performance fees for their managers this year.