The industry snapped a twenty-three-month string of net outflows in May with a very small net inflow that understates an otherwise pretty good month of flow data for hedge funds. The overall flow that went into the industry in May was relatively widespread and the dispersion of meaningful redemptions was quite small. Take away a handful of funds who have been having persistent redemption issues and the headline number for May would have been much larger.
With all the angles on the data taken into consideration, May was a relief of a month for the industry. That said, it is entirely possible that when the numbers for June come in, any positive feelings from May could be completely washed away. For now, however, let’s enjoy May’s “flowers” and hope the persistent rain from the last two years either doesn’t return quite so quickly, or at least doesn’t come down quite so hard in June.