Funds
The last six months have been turbulent times for crude oil. On 17 March, WTI futures fell to USD42.63 – their lowest level since March 2009 – whilst Brent crude futures moved close to a six-year low of USD53 a barrel as the market reacted to the potential of Iran raising production on the back of sanctions being lifted.
On the fundamental side, steady supply growth has led to a glut of inventories in the US, reaching 444.4 million barrels according to the US Energy Information Administration; the highest level since 1982. Many were expecting last year that OPEC would
Oil – According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) US oil production increased by 1.2m barrels per day last year to 8.7m barrels per day: the biggest annual change in US field production of crude oil in over a century. This supply glut caused crude oil prices to drop off a precipice last year, falling from USD107 per barrel in June to USD45 per barrel in March this year. Despite this, production has continued unabated.
On 25 March 2015, for example, the EIA announced that US crude production had risen to 9.42m barrels per day: the highest level since
To address the changing dynamics of the fund services industry, SunGard is expanding its transfer agency capabilities by adding a full-service industry utility offering to its managed services suite.
The key catalyst for this expansion is SunGard’s acquisition of the US long funds transfer agency business from Citibank, NA – a transition of shareholder servicing responsibilities that reflects the evolving landscape of the industry.
SunGard has been providing transfer agency solutions for well over two decades. Prior to the transaction, Money Management Executive’s 2014 Mutual Fund Service Guide ranked SunGard as the second largest technology provider based on the number
Hedge funds posted gains in March to conclude a strong Q1 2015, with performance driven by strong macro trends in Currency and Commodity markets, complemented by broad-based gains and positioning in event driven, equity hedge and fixed income-based relative value arbitrage strategies.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained +0.5 per cent in March and +2.4 per cent in Q1 2015, completing the strongest quarter of outperformance relative to S&P 500 since 3Q11, according to figures from HFR.
All four HFRI main indices were positive for the quarter, and nearly all sub-strategy indices were also positive, underscoring the broad-based nature of
Three of the four managed futures indices calculated by Societe Generale Prime Services recovered their positive performance in March after February’s retreat, with the Newedge CTA Index enjoying its second strongest quarter since 2008 – up 5.79 per cent.
The Newedge Trend Index enjoyed a strong March returning +2.71 per cent and +7.65 per cent since the beginning of the year. The Short Term Traders Index faced a more challenging environment in the second half of March, ending the month down 0.87 per cent. However, its performance for the year remains positive at +2.38 per cent.
Performance attribution data
Options trading volume at TOM MTF rose to 7,990,014 contracts in Q1 2015, which equates to a 55% increase versus Q1 2014.
This sharp growth has resulted in an overall options trading market share of 45% for the quarter, versus 31% for the same period in 2014.
Growth in Dutch index options has been particularly strong at TOM MTF as it has achieved a majority market share of 51% in this segment. 2014 was an important year for TOM MTF as it connected to major retail flow providers such as ABN AMRO, international market makers such as Susquehanna and investment bank BNP Paribas.
Technology investor Mark Pearson is launching Fuel.Ventures EIS Fund 1, an open-ended venture capital fund investing in the e-commerce sector.
The fund will target super-early seed, seed and A-stage investments in the rapidly growing European e-commerce sector. European mobile commerce sales are expected to grow from EUR17.3bn to EUR113.3bn between 2013 and 2018. Fuel.Ventures will invest in a variety of high-growth, sector-agnostic technology based transactional businesses from incubation and inception (super-early seed), to seed and post launch (late seed), as well as series A businesses showing exceptional signs of growth.
To date, Pearson has invested in 10 e-commerce businesses, achieving
Winton has launched two new alternative investment funds (AIFs) that have been structured to comply with the EU Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMD).
The funds are domiciled in Luxembourg and regulated by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). One fund is a managed futures fund of the sort that has traditionally been managed by commodity trading advisers, which allows direct access to the Winton Futures Program by non-US investors. The other is a broadly diversified hedge fund that will follow the same investment program as Winton's 17 year-old flagship fund that currently has global assets of USD12.6
The hedge fund industry took in USD7.2 billion (0.3% of assets) in February, the strongest inflow in the past six months and a turnabout from January’s outflow of USD11.2 billion (0.5% of assets), according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs.
“The redemptions of USD4.1 billion in the first two months of this year stand in dramatic contrast to the inflow of USD31.6 billion in the same period last year,” says Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. “In the past 12 months, hedge funds added USD39.2 billion, down 57% from USD91.4 billion in the previous twelve-month span.”
Hedge fund industry assets edged
LCH.Clearnet is now offering inflation swap clearing through its SwapClear service allowing market participants trading UK, European, and US inflation-linked products to benefit from the efficiencies and enhanced risk management associated with central clearing.
Trading in inflation-linked swaps is popular among asset managers and pension funds looking to guard against rises in inflation and interest rates. Firms opting to clear inflation swaps through SwapClear are able to offset their margin requirements with correlating interest rate derivatives cleared at LCH.Clearnet.
Nathan Ondyak, Head of Products and Markets, SwapClear, LCH.Clearnet, says: “After thorough risk reviews and testing, we are proud to
