Funds
Rational Funds, a family of funds rooted in the investment philosophy of applying a rational approach to investing, has launched the Rational Funds Income Opportunities Fund (RTFIX).
The Fund offers a Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) strategy, and will be sub-advised by Cicero Capital Partners, which has managed a similar strategy in hedge fund form since September 2011.
RTFIX offers an alternative, tactically managed, fixed income strategy focused on mitigating risk while generating stable monthly cash flow. To achieve this, the Fund invests primarily in commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and other commercial real estate structured securities such as
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index, which provides a representative baseline for how the broad liquid alternative investment category performs, returned -0.27 per cent in May, underperforming the 0.26 per cent monthly return of the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index.
The Wilshire Liquid Alternative Index family is a joint offering between Wilshire Funds Management, the global investment management business unit of Wilshire Associates Incorporated, and Wilshire Analytics, creator of the Wilshire 5000 Total Market Index.
“May experienced heightened volatility following political uncertainty in Europe and concerns related to global trade tensions,” says Jason Schwarz (pictured), President of Wilshire Funds Management
Hedge Funds were up 0.90 per cent in May according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, versus a 2.41 per cent increase in the S&P 500 Total Return Index. Year to date, the Barclay Index is up 1.16 per cent, while the S&P has gained 2.02 per cent.
“Biotech and information technology led stock markets higher in developed economies, while emerging market equities continued lower for another month,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge.
All but two of Barclay’s 17 hedge fund indices had gains in May. Healthcare & Biotechnology jumped 4.88 per cent, adding
Hedge fund managers ended May in the green, with the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index up 0.18 per cent over the month, trailing behind the 0.84 per cent gain posted by the MSCI AC World Index over the same period.
On a year-to-date basis, fund managers gained 0.32 per cent with 14 per cent of them posting returns in excess of 5 per cent.
North American fund managers topped the table among geographic mandates, gaining 1.14 per cent supported by the region’s equity markets which performed well during the month. The S&P 500 index gained 2.16 per cent in
Total assets under management for the alternative assets industry in Europe reached a record EUR1.48 trillion as of September 2017, according to a new report from Amundi and Preqin.
Growth has been driven by strong inflows of capital: Europe-focused private capital funds – including private equity, private debt, real estate and real assets – secured a record EUR184bn in 2017, having seen annual totals increase every year since 2011. At the same time, 52 per cent of Europe-based hedge fund managers saw net inflows in 2017 – the highest proportion of any region – as the industry recorded EUR27 billion
Exchange turnover in investment products and leverage products on Europe’s financial markets were up at the end of the first quarter of 2018, according to an analysis by Derivative Partners AG of the latest market data collected by the European Structured Investment Products Association (EUSIPA).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2017, turnover rose by 12.0 per cent to EUR32.5 billion. This also represented a 14.0 per cent increase year on year.
The members of EUSIPA who provide the figures for the market report include: Zertifikate Forum Austria (ZFA), Belgian Structured Investment Products Association (BELSIPA), Association Française des Produits Dérivés
Highland Capital Management has launched the Highland Flexible Income UCITS Fund, an Irish-domiciled fund focused on collateralised loan obligation (CLO) debt.
An innovator in the structured credit space, Highland enhances its suite of alternative credit offerings with the new fund, extending the firm’s reach among European investors.
“Improving and expanding access to the floating-rate debt market is in Highland’s DNA, and this fund is the latest manifestation of that,” says Mark Okada, Highland Capital Management co-founder and co-chief investment officer (CIO). “The UCITS framework provides a number of advantages for investors, and with Highland’s structured credit expertise and
Hedge funds delivered healthy performances last week, with beta-driven strategies outperforming.
L/S Equity funds extended their gains in line with their underlying markets, according to the latest Weekly Brief from Lyxor’s Cross Asset Research team.
Special Situations benefitted from both their higher market beta and some of their activist positions. Tightening deal spreads along with the consolidation wave in the Media sector supported Merger Arbitrage. That included positions on stocks such as NXP and Sky, to name a few.
CTAs were the main detractor to the performance, hit by rising bond yields in Europe and the slide in
Currency manager Record Currency Management (Record) has been accepted as a signatory to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), and is one of the first dedicated currency managers to do so.
James Wood-Collins, Record’s Chief Executive, says: “Record has long had a policy of managing its business in a socially-responsible fashion. We are delighted now to be in the lead amongst currency managers seeking to incorporate ESG issues into our investment practice as well as our business management. While the nature of the portfolios that we manage on our clients’ behalf imposes some particular challenges, we are excited about exploring
AlphaCentric’s Income Opportunities Fund (IOFIX) has been awarded a five-star rating by Morningstar. The Fund celebrated its three-year anniversary on 05/28/2018, and generated a 12.34 per cent return rate for the three-year period ending 31 May 2018.
This five-star rating is a reflection of IOFIX’s risk-adjusted performance for the period ending 31 May 2018, out of 258 funds in the Multisector Bond category. For three consecutive years, IOFIX has generated returns that significantly outperformed its Morningstar category. Additionally, IOFIX ranked at the top of its Morningstar category (as of 31 May 2018) with annualised returns double that of the next
