FAIRFIELD, Iowa, May 21, 2012– Managed futures slipped 0.10% in April according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The Index is down 0.62% year-to-date.
“Although commodity prices dropped in April as measured by a decline of 0.75 percent in the Reuters/CRB Index, several sectors such as industrial metals, natural gas, and soybeans moved higher making for a more difficult trading environment,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
Four of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had gains in April. The Barclay Agricultural Traders Index was up 1.36%, Discretionary Traders gained 0.48%, and Currency Traders added 0.34%.
“The US Dollar weakened a bit against most other major currencies during the month, but gained against the Euro as concerns of a Greek default continue to overhang the market,” says Waksman.
On the losing side, Diversified Traders gave up 0.54%, and Systematic Traders were down 0.37%.
“Investors started to move back into risk-off mode, sending equity and commodity prices lower and bidding up bond prices,” says Waksman.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, dropped 0.32% in April. The BTOP50 is down 0.44% in 2012.
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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.