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Managed Futures Tread Water in February; Barclay CTA Index Down 0.18%

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, March 18, 2009– Managed futures slipped 0.18% in February according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

“Conventional wisdom has determined that the economic recovery has been postponed until 2010,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“Investors were only too willing to oblige by selling equities, commodities, and currencies other than the US Dollar during February.”

“Sales of non-US equities by US dollar-based investors, coupled with a flight to quality in the currency market, helped to strengthen the Dollar.”

Only one managed futures strategy was profitable this month. The Barclay Agricultural Traders Index gained 0.19% in February.

“Continued downward pressure on soybean and wheat prices provided welcome support for most agricultural traders’ portfolios,” says Waksman.

After gaining 1.28% in January, Discretionary Traders gave back 0.53% in February. Diversified Traders were down 0.29% as well.

“A lack of consensus on whether we’re headed for inflation or deflation increased uncertainly in interest rate markets, and that made February a difficult month for bond traders,” says Waksman.
 
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, ended February right where it started, with neither a loss nor gain.

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 quotes, 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 6,000 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 BarclayHedge data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.