Latest News
ConvergEx Group has launched Spectrum, a new algorithm that gives portfolio traders the benefits of executing in a diverse array of domestic dark venues, while allowing them to maintain their required cash and sector balances. Designed by ConvergEx’s dedicated team of financial engineers, Spectrum enables users to trade cash neutral in the dark.
“For moving large orders with minimal market impact, dark liquidity is simply invaluable. However, portfolio traders, with their need to precisely manage risk and cash balances, have been virtually excluded from leveraging these dark pools. The timing and velocity of the dark pool fills is simply too random for
Managed futures gained 0.35% in September according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Index is down just 0.41%.
“Operation Twist in the US, sovereign debt uncertainty in Europe, and potential slowing in China all conspired to keep volatility high and to drive investors away from risk assets,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Equity markets went into liquidation mode, bonds rallied, and commodity prices sold off as investors started pricing in a double-dip recession.”
Five of Barclay’s eight CTA indices gained ground in September. The Barclay Currency Traders Index was up 1.51%, Financial
The Conifer Group has launched Conifer iCon, the first cloud-based solution delivering an entire suite of asset servicing processes, including a data repository and in-depth attribution reporting, from one customisable portal.
For the first time, hedge funds and other money managers can run investment operations via a browser without needing an expensive in-house technology infrastructure.
"As investors continue to clamour for enhanced performance reporting and transparency, accurate and timely risk and attribution reporting has become a top priority for hedge fund managers," says Jack McDonald, President and CEO of The Conifer Group. "By bridging every investment support process that managers
SEI has been selected as a strategic partner to ARIA Capital Management to support their discretionary investment management services through its Global Wealth Services solution.
ARIA is a fast-growing, boutique private client investment manager focused on long-term relationships and achieving cash plus returns for their clients. The firm also runs a selection of absolute return and alternative funds, which have demonstrated consistent positive returns over full-market cycles.
The new partnership will support ARIA in executing its growth strategy over the coming years and will also provide clients with enhanced services, including an improved discretionary fund management service and better access
For the year to 30/09/2011, all Salus Alpha Funds clearly outperformed global equity markets in a difficult environment.
The Salus Alpha Commodity Arbitrage had a performance of +7.71% for the year to date until 9/30/2011, while the US S&P 500 Index lost 10.04%, and the German DAX30 index lost -0.42% in the same period. This is an outperformance against the S&P 500 Index of +17.75% and against the DAX 30 Index of +28.13%.
Other products managed by Salus Alpha performed as follows for the year to date until 9/30/2011: Salus Alpha Event Driven +1.87%; Salus Alpha Equity Hedged +5.80%; Salus
HazelTree Fund Services, a New York-based provider of Treasury management services to hedge funds, has appointed Wilson Pringle as a Managing Director in its New York office.
"We’ve seen unprecedented demand for HazelTree’s Treasury Suite product this year, and that demand has become heightened now that we are addressing Dodd Frank compliance with our new Form PF workbook," says HazelTree CEO Stephen Casner. "Our client base has more than doubled in recent months, so we are bringing Wilson in at precisely the right time to ensure that the level of specialised attention and service we’ve become known for continues unabated.
Peter Moore (pictured), head of regulation and compliance at UK compliance consultancy, The IMS Group, responds to yesterday’s EU agreement regarding regulation of credit default swaps (CDS) and short selling…
The ban on naked sovereign CDS is not consistent with findings of research commissioned by the European Parliament (which found that a ban would harm market liquidity, impair instrument valuation and could ultimately increase borrowing costs for sovereign states) and with research by the German Bundesbank (which found that the larger cash bond and sovereign CDS markets were reacting to events as opposed to either dictating or distorting them). This
Neptune Investment Management is to launch the Neptune Global Long/Short Sector Fund on 1 November 2011.
Neptune is known for the proprietary global sector research process that is central to the management of all its funds. Based on this research, Neptune’s range of long-only equity funds have always reflected the company’s in-house sector calls by being overweight sectors expected to outperform and underweight, or even zero weight, sectors with a poor outlook. Through the use of wider UCITS powers, the Global Long/Short Sector Fund is able to leverage this sector research to its full potential; shorting sectors where the in-house
Most hedge fund strategies had losses in September, evidenced by a 3.92% drop in the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index has lost 7.45% in the 3rd quarter and is now down 6.53% in 2011.
“For the second straight month we’re seeing the largest hedge fund losses since the 2008 meltdown,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Equity markets, driven by fear-based liquidation, dropped precipitously. Double-dip concerns drove the S&P 500 to a 7 percent loss, the MSCI Europe Index gave up 11.1 percent over the uncertainty of resolution of its sovereign debt issues,
Whitebox Selected Research – the new research curation portal launched by the Minnesota-based hedge fund Whitebox Advisors – is sponsoring a new contest for research papers published in 2011 that have made an outstanding contribution to the art and science of investment.
The goal is for Whitebox Selected Research to illuminate valuable published research that deserves to be recognised, with the author of the winning paper receiving a prize of USD25,000.
Additional prizes for honourable mention may be awarded for other meritorious submissions, as designated “finalists,” up to a total of twelve. Papers will be judged and prizes will be
