With the first quarter behind us in 2014, it is time to take a look at the trends in the industry and possibly spot some upcoming opportunities.

Asset inflows remain healthy with $26,3 billion of net new capital being allocated to hedge funds; as usual the great majority of new funds gets invested with the largest firms – 85% of new capital was allocated to funds with more than $1 billion in AUM.

Among the different strategies, Activist and Event Driven in general perform the best thanks to a vibrant M&A environment and opportunities in the health care and telecom space.  Global Macro and Managed Futures continue to disappoint as the low volatility that has marked markets in the past continues.  These strategies may become more attractive when the Fed will increase the speed of its policy reversal.

On the Credit side, opportunities are still emerging in Europe where banks continue to de-lever their balance sheets.