Managed futures rebounded in May after two consecutive losing months, gaining 1.37 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by Fairfield, Iowa-based index provider BarclayHedg
Managed futures rebounded in May after two consecutive losing months, gaining 1.37 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by Fairfield, Iowa-based index provider BarclayHedge.
‘Both rising and falling commodity prices helped propel CTAs to another profitable month,’ says BarclayHedge founder and president Sol Waksman. ‘Prices for crude oil and gasoline continued an uninterrupted uptrend, and most traders held onto their profitable long positions.’
All eight BarclayHedge managed futures indices were positive in May. The Diversified Traders Index was up 1.73 per cent and has gained an impressive 13.53 per cent in the first five months of 2008.
‘In addition to taking advantage of favourable commodity markets, CTAs trading diversified portfolios were able to profit from a steepening yield curve in the US, rising stock prices in North American markets, and a strengthening of the Aussie dollar,’ Waksman says.
The Barclay Systematic Traders Index gained 1.28 per cent, while financial and metals traders rose 0.91 per cent, discretionary traders were up 0.83 per cent, and agricultural traders gained 0.65 per cent. ‘Wheat prices continued to fall due to a favourable harvest outlook, while soybean prices rose reflecting the negative expectations for this year’s crop,’ Waksman says.
The Barclay CTA Index has risen by 7.93 per cent in the first five months of 2008, exceeding its 7.64 per cent gain for the whole of 2007.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, rose by 1.29 per cent in May and is now up 5.66 per cent for the first five months of the year.
Founded as the Barclay Group in 1985, BarclayHedge tracks more than 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and managed futures programmes and maintains 18 proprietary hedge fund and eight managed futures indices, providing data to clients including institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks.
