The firm says that the Greenwich global hedge fund index (GGHFI) returned 2.01%, and the Greenwich composite investable index returned 1.66% in May. By comparison, the S&P 500, MSCI world equity, and FTSE 100 indices posted returns of 1.29%, 1.11% and -0.56%, respectively, it says.

“Across the board, hedge funds performed well in May. But the real story is told when comparing year-to-date performance,” notes Margaret Gilbert, managing director with Greenwich. “Hedge funds are positive for the year compared to the major equity indices which still remain negative.” In the year-to-date, the GGHFI has returned 0.49%.

For the second month in a row, long/short equity managers were the best performing strategy group, it says, posting a gain of 2.35%. Directional trading managers, the best performing strategy group so far this year, returned 2.00% in May. Specialty strategy managers were the second-best performing strategy group, returning 2.10% on average. The market neutral group averaged 1.39% on the month.