benchmark for market neutral long short strategy? market, correct

Viceroy

which is the correct benchmark for a market neutral long-short strategy equitized with S&P 500 futures contracts?

why the correct answer is S&P index ?

thks

Roflnadal

thks a lot

NakedPuts00

is it correct that if it had not equitized with the futures contracts, the benchmark would be the Rf rate (because the market neutral strategy has no systematic risk?)

jmh530

yes , that is correct , the mean return for a market neutral strategy should be comparable to the risk free rate, generally. Any additional alpha would be the return to the manager's skill