A summary of last week in hedge fund

Equity markets made a steady slide this week, with the VIX spiking briefly through 30 on concerns over the strength of economic growth. Investment grade credit was flat, high yield spreads widened loosing a point.

Hedge fund strategies slumped back into the red. HFRX Equity Hedge Index was down -0.36% through Thursday, and HFRX Equity Market Neutral Index also dropped into negative territory (down -0.24%).

HFRX Distressed Securities Index slid further now down -1.44% month to date through Thursday. Macro gave back -0.5%, off -1.5% month to date. Convertible Bond Arbitrage is currently the only bright spot up 0.09%.

Falcone Wireless Wager at Risk as Deals Curbed, Spending Looms: (From Bloomberg) Bloomberg reports: Philip Falcone netted billions with contrarian bets on the metals and U.S. housing markets. Now he’s making what may be his riskiest wager yet. Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners hedge fund is starting a telecommunications company that will square off against AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel Corp. in selling wireless Internet service. He needs billions of dollars to build the planned network of 36,000 radio towers and two satellites. If he doesn’t move fast enough, the government can take away the wireless licenses he needs to operate.

Hedge funds in Asia brace for new EU rules: (From Financial Times) FT reports: New hedge fund regulations proposed by the European Union are expected to affect managers around the globe, but they could have a particularly big impact in Asia, where funds are smaller, younger, and often heavily reliant on European investors.

Ex-Citi trader Hall raises $1 bln for hedge fund: (From Reuters) Reuters reports: Former Citigroup trader Andrew Hall, who became a lightning rod for criticism over excessive Wall Street bonuses last year, has raised $1.08 billion for an offshore commodities hedge fund. The Westport, Connecticut-based fund, Astenbeck Offshore Commodities Fund II Ltd, said it had raised the funds from 37 investors in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Monday.

BlueCrest raises £350m from AllBlue issue: (from Financial Times)FT reports: BlueCrest Capital – one of London’s biggest hedge fund managers – has raised £350m ($520m) through the launch of new shares in AllBlue Limited, its FTSE-listed investment vehicle.

Hedge Funds Whipsawed by Gas Bets:(From Wall Street Journal Interactive) The Wall Street Journal reports: The rally in natural-gas prices has caught many hedge funds flatfooted, sparking a string of unexpected losses for top-name players. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney clients invested in a $640 million group of funds that have emerged as some of the biggest losers in the turmoil. Hedge funds known as trend followers—which chase market movements, rather than making fundamental investment decisions —also appear to have been hurt on bad trades.

Hedge-Fund Investors Almost Double Macro Bets as Global Trades Proliferate: (From Bloomberg) Bloomberg reports: Hedge funds that bet on economic trends are attracting cash at almost double last year’s pace as they seek to profit from events such as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and China’s decision to let the yuan trade more freely.

A Third of Partners Exit One of World\'s Oldest Hedge Funds: (From Financial News) Financial News Online reports: One of the oldest hedge fund firms in the world, whose assets are understood to have fallen by almost half over the past 18 months, has been hit by the departures of a third of its partners over the past two days. The exits include the two heads of its European business.