Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Shorts suffer in the rally
For many money managers who bet exclusively that securities will fall, July may go down in history as their personal Waterloo — .
When performance data is announced in the next few days, the numbers will show high single-digit or even double-digit losses at so-called dedicated short-sellers, industry analysts and investors forecast.
“Every few years short-sellers have their day in the sun,” said Brad Alford, founder of Alpha Capital Management, an advisory firm that invests in hedge funds. “Then things revert to normal where the markets rise and life becomes so difficult for them that many just go out of business,” he added.
Short-sellers began having a bad year as soon as the stock market began to turn around when fears about the global downturn eased. In the first six months of 2009 they lost 9.38 percent, compared with the 9.55 percent that other hedge funds gained.
