Managed futures gained 0.95% in February according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is up 1.10% year-to-date.
“Rising prices for global equities and commodities coupled with falling bond prices and US dollar weakness provided adequate opportunities for CTAs to add to profits in February,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “All eight of Barclay’s CTA indices had gains last month, and they are all in positive territory year-to-date.”
The Barclay Diversified Traders Index gained 1.09% in February, Systematic Traders were up 1.00%, Agricultural Traders added 0.88%, and the Financial & Metals Traders Index gained 0.40%.
“Although gains were widespread across almost all sectors, significant undercurrents emerged which held the returns to modest levels,” says Waksman. “Gold declined 1.5 per cent in a single day, industrial metals were mixed, and intervention by the Bank of Japan resulted in a six percent decline of the yen against a weakening US dollar.”
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, gained 0.48% in February.
