Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: A trend reversal in the bond markets triggered a slight decline in profits for managed futures traders as BarclayHedge reported that the Barclay CTA Index fell 0.05% in April (+0.94% YTD).
"Improvement in the financial outlook for the US, Europe, and China while central banks sat on their hands sparked a trend reversal in the bond markets," says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.
He added, "The unexpected rise in interest rates created serious headwinds for trend-following CTAs."
Six of Barclay’s eight CTA indices had negative returns in April; two of the indices were profitable. The Agricultural Traders Index lost 1.08%, Financial/Metals Traders were down 0.69%.
On the positive side, currency traders gained 1.14%, and the Diversified Traders Index were basically flat with 0.07%.
"Profits gained from U.S. dollar weakness against the Japanese yen and commodity related currencies served to reduce losses in other portfolio sectors, and thrust currency traders to their best performance since November 2015," added Waksman.
At the end of April, currency traders have gained 3.05% in 2016, the Financial/Metals Traders Index is up 2.00%, systematic traders have gained 1.91%, and diversified traders have returned 1.63%.
The Agricultural Traders Index has lost 1.71% y...................... To view our full article Click here
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