BarclayHedge Blog

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, July 16, 2008 – Managed futures continue to perform strongly in 2008, gaining 1.89% in June according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
The Barclay CTA Index has risen 8.88% in the first six months of 2008.

“The same trends responsible for increasing bearish sentiment in the financial markets have in many cases opened the door to profits for momentum-based futures traders,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“Traders have found opportunities in declining stock prices, rising inflation, U.S. Dollar weakness and higher commodity prices.”

All of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices had positive returns in June. The Barclay Agricultural Traders Index jumped 4.58%, Diversified Traders gained 3.46%, and Systemic Traders were up 2.10%.

“Heavy rains and flooding have reduced crop yields in the U.S., driving prices higher and giving a boost to CTAs trading the agricultural markets,” says Waksman.

Barclay’s Diversified Traders Index has gained 15.85% during the first six months of 2008.
“Diversified traders have been able to benefit from a confluence of sustained trends in several of the major market sectors,” says Waksman.

“Traders usually don’t have these many profitable opportunities occurring simultaneously. Consequently, we are seeing an increase in fund launches in the commodity sector.”

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, rose 2.10% in June, and is up 8.34% year to date.

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, July 15, 2008 – Although hedge funds declined 1.33% in June according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, they have significantly outperformed stock market returns during the first six months of 2008.

While the Barclay Hedge Fund Index slipped 2.09% from January through June, the S&P 500 Index lost 11.91% and the NASDAQ fell 13.55% over the same period.

“Hedge funds typically outperform equity markets during difficult periods,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“For example, during the three-year bear market from 2000 to 2002, the S&P 500 lost 36.70 percent of its value while hedge funds actually gained 21.48 percent.

“People focusing on recent hedge fund declines have lost sight of the bigger picture – these investments actually add more value during down market cycles than in up markets. After all, when the market is going up, there isn’t as much need to be hedged.”

The Barclay Equity Short Bias Index gained a remarkable 11.83% in June. Short sellers are now up 18.76% for the year.

“Thus far in 2008, shorting the equity markets has clearly been the most profitable strategy for hedge fund managers,” says Waksman.

“Whether they can hold on to these gains remains to be seen. Going short is a strategy that can come back and bite you when the markets turn quickly.”

In addition to the strong performance by Equity Short Bias, Equity Market Neutral was up 2.86% in June, and the Healthcare & Biotechnology Index rose 1.91%.

Twelve of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices lost ground in June. The Emerging Markets Index dropped 4.15%, Equity Long Bias was down 3.39%, and Pacific Rim Equities lost 2.98%.
After two quarters, the worst performing indices are Emerging Markets, down 9.39%, and Pacific Rim Equities, down 5.86%.

The Barclay Fund of Funds Index lost 0.69% in June, and is down by 2.51% for the year.
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 fund performance

Commodity Trading Advisor performance for May as measured by the Barclay CTA Index averaged +0.32%. June’s estimate based on the performance of the Barclay BTOP50 Index is +2.10%.

Hedge funds had a positive month in May reflected by gains in seventeen of our eighteen indices. The average return for the 3,008 hedge funds (ex. FoFs) that have so far reported a May return is +1.80%. The estimates for June, 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, 12 of 18 hedge fund sectors are showing negative returns for June.

Hedge Fund Indices and Managed Futures Indices

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

Labels: Barclay Insider Report, commodity trading advisor, managed futures

By Heinz Zimmermann, Professor of Economics and Finance, Department of Finance at Wirtschaftswissenschaftliches Zentrum (WWZ), University of Basel, Switzerland

Discusses recent issues related to the transfer of credit risk from the perspective of global liquidity.

Download the full article here

From the July 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, credit risk