BarclayHedge Blog

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, August 18, 2010– Managed futures gained 0.09% in July according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Barclay CTA Index has lost 0.91%.

“As market participants moved from a risk-avoidance posture to a more risk-seeking strategy in July, many traders were caught on the wrong side of a rally in global commodities,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

Read the entire Managed Futures Press Release by clicking here.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, CTA

Flexibility of L/S Equity Funds Facilitates Integration of Divergent Views

From the Third Quarter, 2010 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.

Following four consecutive quarters of positive returns, the S&P 500 retreated during the second quarter of 2010 reflecting a market reality check on the true speed of the global economic recovery. Data in the US continues to be mixed at best, with the high level of unemployment remaining the greatest concern along with wavering consumer sentiment.

More disconcerting is that the US appears to be the shining star among the developed world with Europe roiled by the Greek debt crisis and Japan teetering on a similar fiscal path. And while the emerging markets appear decoupled from their developed counterparts in leading the economic recovery, market volatility remains elevated throughout the region.

While this type of global market volatility poses obvious challenges to long-only investors, it would seem that the current opportunity set would be bountiful for long/short equity managers that have much more flexibility in the management of their market exposure. With a host of impending regulations on the horizon, both in
the US and abroad, however, questions have been raised as to the ability of long/short equity managers to continue to add value on a non-correlated basis going forward. To discuss the equity market environment and opportunities within long/short equity investing in more detail, we have assembled a panel of experienced
managers.

Our panel includes:

Brad Golding, Christofferson,Robb & Company
Nico Y. Mizrahi, First Pacific Advisors, LLC.
Anna Nikolayevsky, Axel Partners,LP.

The complete article will be available on the BarclayHedge.com website in November 2010. Subscribe to receive each issue of the Barclay Managed Funds Report as it comes out.

Labels: Barclay Managed Funds Report, Barclay Roundtable, long short equity

FAIRFIELD, Iowa, August 11, 2010– Hedge funds gained 2.15% in July according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is up 2.2% year to date.

All but one of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indexes had a positive return in July. The Barclay Emerging Markets Index surged 3.54%, Equity Long Bias jumped 3.03%, the Technology Index gained 2.61%, Multi-Strategy was up 2.26%, and Fixed Income Arbitrage rose 2.03%.

Read the entire Hedge Fund Press Release by clicking here.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, hedge funds

To see the latest hedge funds, fund of funds and CTAs that have launched recently or will be launching soon click here. Fund Managers who would like to see their new fund listed on Barclay’s website and featured in the next Insider Report, can submit new fund launch press releases directly to rmiller@barclayhedge.com. Below is a list of recent fund launches:

• Fund Name: AI-1 CTA Euro Invest


• Angle Capital Mgmt (AIP)


• Henderson Horizon Global Currency


• The Mangrove Partners Fund

From the August 2010 issue of Barclay's Insider Report. Accredited investors can subscribe to the full newsletter for free.

Labels: CTA, hedge funds, New Fund Launches

By Michael Cyran, Cynthia Doe and Tal Goldhamer of the Financial Services Office of Ernst & Young LLP, with an introduction by Dermot Butler of Custom House Global Fund Services

Just as ISO 9001 has been regarded as the quality standard for manufacturing firms and their processes, the SAS 70 Report has become the new standard within the alternative investments industry indicating that effective controls and systems are in place. Their paper explains how completing the SAS 70 Report can differentiate your firm from the pack.

Read the full study here.

Labels: Barclay Insider Report, commodity trading advisor, CTA, flows into hedge funds, Fund Administration Research Articles, funds of hedge funds, Hedge Fund Administration, hedge fund research

Whether a private investor or institutional, a fund distributor or allocator, all individuals charged with the daunting task of fund selection are confronted with a similar problem. We call this "falling in love" with a fund. For the pragmatist, the love story may begin with an upward-sloping line chart. For the romantic, it can be solidified in a marketing pitch spilling sexy Greeks and spattered with an enticing financial glossary. This article takes a closer look at the problem that this phenomenon creates for fund selectors and presents some suggestions on how to reduce the chance of qualitatively weaker funds from becoming approved through this bias while reducing the costs of the selection process.

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 Daniel Giamouridis, Dept. of Accounting & Finance, Athens University of Economics and Business; and Sandra Paterlini, Center for Quantitative Risk Analysis, Dept. of Statistics, LMU, Munich, Germany

Their article addresses the problem of portfolio construction in the context of efficient hedge fund investments replication.

Download the full article here.

From the August 2010 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 funds

Hedge funds had a negative month in June reflected by losses in thirteen of our eighteen indices. The average return for the 2,887 hedge funds (ex. FoFs) that have so far reported a June return is -1.05%. 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, 17 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 +0.37%. July's estimate based on the performance of the Barclay BTOP50 Index is -0.77%.

Hedge Fund Indices Managed Futures Indices

From the August 2010 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

New York, NY – August 9, 2010 – TrimTabs Investment Research and BarclayHedge reported that the hedge fund industry posted an estimated outflow of $3.7 billion, or 0.2% of assets, in June 2010, following an inflow of $4.9 billion in May and an outflow of $2.5 billion in April. The industry posted negative returns of 3.2% in May and 1.1% in June, the first two-month losing streak since January and February 2009.

“Redemptions probably persisted through July, and they could pepper the remainder of the year,” said Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Even if performance hadn’t been poor in May and June, July is historically one of the worst months of the year for fund subscriptions, and seasonality will be working against inflows through December.”

Read the entire TrimTabs Asset Flows into Hedge Funds Press Release by clicking here.

Labels: BarclayHedge press release, CTA, flows into CTAs, flows into hedge funds, hedge fund flows, hedge fund research, hedge funds

The topical study from the August 2010 issue of The Hedge Fund Flow Report. Gain insight into industry trends and hedge fund asset flows before you make your next important decision.

• Hedge fund managers are neutral to bullish on equities following two months of bearishness. About 34% of the 99 hedge fund managers we surveyed in the past week are bullish on the S&P 500, up from 19% in June. Our sentiment figures seem to match changes in short interest. NYSE short interest decreased 4.9% between June 15 and July 15 after increasing steadily between May 1 and June 15.


• Sentiment on Treasuries and the U.S. dollar index has reversed. Hedge fund managers were bearish on 10-year Treasuries and bullish on the greenback in our two previous surveys, but they are currently neutral to bullish on Treasuries and neutral to bearish on the dollar. A shift in economic expectations drove the reversal, as the managers who expect the U.S. economy to double-dip are much more bullish on 10-year Treasuries.


• About 75% of managers plan to hold leverage steady in the next month, while 14% aim to increase it and only 11% expect to decrease it. We believe fear of redemptions might have managers hesitant to lever up. Hedge fund investors redeemed $6.2 billion in June, and the latter half of the year historically delivers outflows. . . .

Accredited investors can read the entire article for free.

From the August 2010 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