BarclayHedge Blog

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, September 18, 2008 – Managed futures held steady in August, posting a small gain of 0.11% according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year to date, the index is up 7.17%.

"Inflation fears moderated in August as commodity prices corrected and the global economy showed signs of slowing," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

"Bond prices rose and traders holding long positions in North American and Australian markets were able to profit nicely."

Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices were in positive territory in August. The Discretionary Traders Index rose 0.25%, Diversified Traders were up 0.25%, and Currency Traders gained 0.20%.

Agricultural Traders had the weakest performance in August, losing 0.52%.

"Agricultural traders were caught flat-footed as prices for corn and soybeans, which had been in a sustained downtrend since the beginning of July, rallied at mid-month," says Waksman.

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, lost 1.52% in August, but remains up 6.59% for the year. Since the beginning of September, the BTOP50 has gained 1.35%.

Through August, Barclay’s Diversified Traders Index leads all managed futures strategies with a gain of 12.42%.

Click here to view 28 years of Barclay CTA Index data.

Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.

BarclayHedge (formerly The Barclay Group) was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.

Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize Barclay’s data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, managed futures

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, September 17, 2008 – Hedge funds declined 1.07% in August according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year to date, the Index is down 5.59%.

"August was a difficult month for global equity markets," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

"All but two of the MSCI Developed Markets Country indices and three of the Emerging Markets Country indices reported losses for the month."

Overall, 12 of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices declined in August. The Emerging Markets Index dropped 4.51%, and has lost 16.22% in the first eight months of 2008.

Equity Market Neutral fell 2.07%, Equity Short Bias lost 1.63%, Pacific Rim Equities slid 1.22%, and the Event Driven Index was down 1.24%.

"Taken as a group, hedge funds typically have a positive correlation with equity prices and a negative correlation with credit spreads," says Waksman.

"Whenever equity prices decline and credit spreads increase at the same time, it becomes more likely that hedge fund strategies will lose money."

On the positive side, Barclay’s Healthcare and Biotechnology Index gained 0.95% in August, Technology was up 1.05%, Merger Arbitrage gained 0.66%, and European Equities rose 0.62%.

The strongest hedge fund sector year to date is Equity Short Bias, which has gained 15.05% in eight months.

The Barclay Fund of Funds Index was down 1.44% in August.

Click here to view five years of Barclay Hedge Fund Index data, or download 11 years of monthly data.

Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.

BarclayHedge (formerly The Barclay Group) was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.

Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize Barclay’s data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, hedge funds

The topical study from the September 2008 issue of The Hedge Fund Flow Report. Gain insight into industry trends and hedge fund asset flows before you make your next important decision.

The dollar has surged recently, and the hedge fund industry had record losses in July 2008. This study investigates the connection between dollar returns and hedge fund returns. It measures the returns of the dollar index, and correlates them to the returns of the 5,650 dollar-denominated funds in Barclay’s Global Database.

The study shows that, since the beginning of 2000, hedge funds have had a net short position on the dollar. However, the two-year correlation coefficient in July was only -6.6%.

CTAs and Macro funds are most sensitive to dollar returns. Speculative traders turned long on the dollar in June...

Accredited investors can read the entire article for free.

From the September 2008 issue of The Hedge Fund Flow Report. The Hedge Fund Flow Report combines the accuracy of the BarclayHedge database with the analytical insight of TrimTabs Investment Research. The report is generated by TrimTabs Investment Research using the most current data on thousands of hedge funds. An annual subscription includes 12 monthly updates as well as a spreadsheet containing historical flow aggregates by category.

To download a free sample of the entire TrimTabs Hedge Fund Flow Report, simply fill out this short request form.

Labels: Hedge Fund Flow Topical Study, hedge funds

By Momtchil Pojarliev, Head of Currencies at Hermes Investment Management Limited and Richard M. Levich, Professor of Finance and International Business and Deputy Chair of the Department of Finance at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business

Takes a close look at the returns of professional currency managers and examines the difference in performance between funds that survive and those that do not.

Download the full article here

From the September 2008 issue of Barclay's Insider Report. Accredited investors can subscribe to the full newsletter for free.

Labels: Barclay Insider Report, Barclay Insider Report Guest Article, currency funds

Commodity Trading Advisor performance for June as measured by the Barclay CTA Index averaged +1.99%. July’s estimate based on the performance of the Barclay BTOP50 Index is -1.48%.

Hedge funds had a down month in June reflected by losses in thirteen of our eighteen indexes. The average return for the 2,968 hedge funds (ex. FoFs) that have so far reported a June return is -1.67%. The estimates for July, along with the number of funds reporting for each of our 18 sectors can be found at the link below. These indices are being continually updated as current returns for the underlying hedge funds are recorded into our system. As of this writing, 15 of 18 hedge fund sectors are showing negative returns for July.

Hedge Fund Indices and Managed Futures Indices

From the September 2008 issue of Barclay's Insider Report. Accredited investors can subscribe to the full newsletter for free.

Labels: Barclay Insider Report, commodity trading advisor, hedge fund performance