FAIRFIELD, Iowa, March 20, 2012– 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 U.S. dollar weakness provided adequate opportunities for CTAs to add to profits in February,” says Sol Waksman, 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 percent 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 U.S. dollar.”
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, gained 0.48% in February.
Click here to view 32 years of Barclay CTA Index data.
Sol Waksman is an experienced media source, providing perspectives on hedge fund and managed futures trends. For more commentary or background, call 641-472-3456 or email swaksman@barclayhedge.com.
BarclayHedge was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,200 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Each month Barclay provides updated performance rankings for 38 Hedge Fund categories, 16 CTA categories, and 7 UCITS categories.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms, and private banks worldwide utilize BarclayHedge indices as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.