Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Things are looking up for hedge funds

Stephen Beard Feb 11, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Things are looking up for hedge funds

Stephen Beard Feb 11, 2009
HTML EMBED:
COPY

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: We all know hedge funds had an awful time last year. But from London,
Stephen Beard reports they may have turned the corner — hedge funds are making money again.


Stephen Beard: The hedge fund industry has made a profit for two months in a row. This is the first time that’s happened since last spring — 2008 is a year the hedgies would prefer to forget. Currencies, commodities, stocks and bonds were all over the place. Markets were difficult to call. Many funds went bust.

Ian Morley is with Corazon Capital. He says the recent pick-up may be the Darwinian principle at work. The hedge funds that have survived are the fittest.

Ian Morley: There were a lot of people that came into the hedge fund industry. A lot of those people got put out of business. And those that are left standing are going to be those that tend to have more of a skill in making money in a hedge fund way.

He claims the hedge fund industry’s return to profitability is a good sign for the global economy. It suggests that markets have settled down a little and become a bit easier to predict.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.