BarclayHedge Blog

L/S Funds Concerned About Health Care Reform, Financial Regulation, and US Stimulus Program

From the Third Quarter, 2009 issue of Barclay Managed Funds Report. The full report also includes 24 hedge fund and managed futures performance ranking tables and in-depth manager profiles. Subscribe. View Roundtables from back issues.

During the second quarter of 2009, the global equity markets staged a dramatic rebound and recouped a portion of the losses from the previous two quarters. The S&P 500 Index’s return of nearly +16% represented its strongest quarterly return since the fourth quarter of 1998. An improved investor appetite appeared to be fueled by extremely attractive security valuations, however, the level of exuberance seemed to have overlooked the fact that all may not be completely well in the world.

Economic figures, while improving, are still being hampered by a weak housing market. Oil prices are on the rise again as tension in the Middle East continues and the Obama administration tables alternative energy initiatives. Healthcare reform has become a front burner issue, but many questions remain as to how much reform will occur and what portions of the economy may be impacted by any major change. And finally, the specter of increased regulation within the financial industry and securities markets can be expected to have a wide ranging impact on investment opportunities.

With so much uncertainty, where do we go from here? Is there enough good news to support higher equity valuations over the next several quarters, or are equities poised for another correction? Has the environment changed to the point where even the best and brightest hedge fund managers may be challenged to add value for their investors? To discuss the equity market environment and opportunities within long/short investing, we have assembled a panel of experienced and successful
long/short equity managers. Our panel includes:

Ellen Adams, CastleRock Management
Jamie Horvat, Sprott Asset Management LP
Charles Oliver, Sprott Asset Management LP
Jaffrey B. Osher, Harvest Capital Strategies

The complete article will be available on the BarclayHedge.com website in November 2009. Subscribe to receive each issue of the Barclay Managed Funds Report at it comes out.

Labels: Barclay Managed Funds Report, hedge funds

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, August 17, 2009– Managed futures traders had mixed results in July, averaging out to a 0.06% loss according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

“Intra-month price reversals in major futures markets made for a difficult trading environment in July,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

Read the entire Hedge Fund Press Release by clicking here.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, managed futures

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, August 13, 2009– Hedge funds rose 3.11% in July according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index now has five consecutive months of gains in 2009 resulting in an increase of 16.23% since March 1.

“During July, we continued to see improving liquidity, a tightening of credit spreads, and a decrease in risk aversion among investors,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

“These trends provided support for a continuation of the rallies in global equity and credit markets.”

Read the entire Hedge Fund Press Release by clicking here.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, hedge funds

Check back each month to read the latest proprietary study addressing issues in due diligence and risk analysis.

The study outlines preparation tips and topics for conducting an on-site due diligence meeting and emphasizes the critical nature of onsite due diligence, both prior to and after investing, for all serious alternative investment allocators.

Read the full study here.


Hedge Fund Due Diligence Reports

BarclayHedge and SwissAnalytics have teamed up to offer hedge fund and CTA due diligence. As a BarclayHedge member receive an exclusive 10% discount on your first Hedge Fund Due Diligence Report from SwissAnalytics.

SwissAnalytics offers a comprehensive approach to systematically score each fund on more than 140 qualitative risk factors. SwissAnalytics researchers conduct full-service due diligence on the entire range of hedge fund and CTA strategies and managers located anywhere in the world in a timely and cost-effective manner.

To download a sample Due Diligence Report, simply fill out this short request form.

Labels: cta due diligence, due diligence, hedge fund due diligence, hedge fund risk, hedge fund risk analysis

By Greg N. Gregoriou, Professor of Finance, State University of New York and Razvan Pascalau, Assistant Professor of Economics, State University of New York

In their paper they investigate the level and the determinants of the optimal number of hedge fund managers in a fund of hedge funds, and analyze its impact on performance.

Download the full article here.

From the August 2009 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, hedge fund performance, hedge fund research, hedge funds

Hedge funds had a positive month in June reflected by gains in fourteen of our eighteen indices. The average return for the 2,612 hedge funds (ex. FoFs) that have so far reported a June return is +0.36. 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, 16 of 18 hedge fund sectors are showing positive returns for July.

Commodity Trading Advisor performance for June as measured by the Barclay CTA Index averaged -0.84%. July's estimate based on the performance of the Barclay BTOP50 Index is -0.45%.

Hedge Fund Indices Managed Futures Indices

From the August 2009 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

The topical study from the August 2009 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 continued out performance of hedge funds has puzzled academics for a long time. Tenants of the efficient market’s hypothesis believe that this anomaly is due to survivorship bias, as liquidated funds get dropped out of hedge fund databases.

Fortunately, BarclayHedge keeps records of the funds that have stopped reporting to them, enabling us to estimate the bias arising from hedge fund drop-outs.

In this study, we found that . . . .

Accredited investors can read the entire article for free.


From the August 2009 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: CTA, Hedge Fund Flow Topical Study, hedge funds