Hedge funds gained almost 1% in August, according to the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index.

The index was up 0.85% in August. “With the economy slowing, the Federal Reserve on August 8th halted its campaign to increase interest rates after more than two-years of hikes,” noted Oliver Schupp, president of the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index. “The pause gives policymakers the opportunity to assess the market’s reaction to its previous rates hikes.”

“The markets reacted positively to the pause, and Long/Short Equity Managers benefited with an increase of 1.54% for the month of August,” Schupp added. “The Event Driven sector profited from an environment of high degrees of liquidity, tightening European credit spreads and widening US credit spreads, which induced positive returns of 1.05%.”

“After May and June’s sell-off, the Emerging Markets sector acted resilient, ending the month up 1.42%,” said Robert Schulman, chief executive officer of Tremont Group Holdings Inc. “The strong directional trend of the commodities market enabled the trend-following Managed Futures sector to gain positive traction, ending the month up 1.39%.”