The first quarter of 2016 was a rollercoaster period for markets. While mid-February saw equities down significantly, there followed a significant rally leading many major indices except Europe and Japan to finish the Q1 in positive territory. Equity long/short managers, who seek to identify stocks that they think will rise and fall, struggled significantly during this time, leading one prime broker to refer to the quarter as the “worst period of manager alpha for equity long/short for seven years.” Clearly something significant was happening, but what? Although equity long/short managers hope to make money on both the long and short...