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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, March 13, 2007– Most managed futures strategies lost ground in February, according to The Barclay Group. Overall, the Barclay CTA Index was down 0.77% for the month. Year to date, the Barclay CTA Index has gained 0.19%.
“Volatility increased dramatically during the final days of February,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of The Barclay Group.
“As stock markets tumbled, investors sought safety and drove US interest rates lower.”
Systemic Traders lost 1.21% in February, Diversified Traders fell 1.01%, the Financial and Metals Index was down 0.60%, and Currency Traders lost 0.31%.
“The sharp increase in the value of the Japanese yen at month-end hurt currency players who were long the ‘carry trade.’”
Two sectors did perform well in February. Barclay’s Discretionary Traders Index gained 1.18%, and the Agricultural Traders Index was up 0.97%. Agricultural Traders have gained 2.72% during the first two months of 2007.
“Rallies in the soybean and live cattle futures markets were beneficial to traders in the agricultural markets," says Waksman.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest CTAs, dropped 0.40% in February.
Click here to view 27 years of Barclay CTA Index data.
View eight years of monthly returns for the Barclay BTOP50 Index.
Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends.
Call 641-472-3456 or email sol@barclayhedge.com for more commentary or background.
The Barclay Group, founded in 1985, actively tracks more than 6,000 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 indexes as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
