Hedge funds suffer worst month in nearly three years in October and are now down for the year

October saw hedge funds notch their worst collective monthly performance since January 2016, according to Preqin a research firm on the industry.

Hedge funds lost 2.35 percent on average in October, according to Preqin’s index, while investors withdrew $4.6 billion of hedge fund capital in the third quarter of this year. The hedge fund industry’s performance turned negative for the year in October, down 0.8 percent.

“Hedge fund performance was severely impacted by the sell-off resulting from the escalation of trade, political and monetary policy uncertainties,” Preqin’s head of hedge funds Amy Bensted said in a statement.

Hedge funds specializing in equity strategies were the worse performing, losing 3.3 percent, according to the report.