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FAIRFIELD, Iowa, September 18, 2008 – Managed futures held steady in August, posting a small gain of 0.11% according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year to date, the index is up 7.17%.
"Inflation fears moderated in August as commodity prices corrected and the global economy showed signs of slowing," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
"Bond prices rose and traders holding long positions in North American and Australian markets were able to profit nicely."
Six of Barclay’s eight managed futures indices were in positive territory in August. The Discretionary Traders Index rose 0.25%, Diversified Traders were up 0.25%, and Currency Traders gained 0.20%.
Agricultural Traders had the weakest performance in August, losing 0.52%.
"Agricultural traders were caught flat-footed as prices for corn and soybeans, which had been in a sustained downtrend since the beginning of July, rallied at mid-month," says Waksman.
The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, lost 1.52% in August, but remains up 6.59% for the year. Since the beginning of September, the BTOP50 has gained 1.35%.
Through August, Barclay’s Diversified Traders Index leads all managed futures strategies with a gain of 12.42%.
Click here to view 28 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 (formerly The Barclay Group) was founded in 1985 and actively tracks more than 6,800 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, and managed futures programs. Barclay has created and regularly updates 18 proprietary hedge fund indexes and eight managed futures indexes.
Institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks worldwide utilize Barclay’s data as performance benchmarks for the hedge fund and managed futures industries.
