Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: All of the CTA sectors gained last month as managed futures managers post 0.64% returns during an "unspectacular" July, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. The index is down 1.04% for the year.
Comparatively, the BTOP50 Index, which tracks 20 of the largest CTAs, showed a modest gain of 0.60% and is down 4.20% through the end of July.
"Managed futures traders were able to eke out gains last month in spite of the cross currents in commodity markets," said Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. "Profits resulting from U.S. dollar weakness against the euro and a new record high in the S&P 500 were enough to overcome losses from trend reversals in energy and agricultural products."
All sectors record gains
All of the six fund sub-indices measured by BarclayHedge recorded gains in July.
Financials/metals, which had been the worst performing sector in June, led the way with a gain of 0.85% while currencies showed the smallest gains of 0.09%.
Year to date, agricultural remains the best performing sector with a gain of 2.86%, while diversified continues to lag all other sectors with a 3.23% decline.
"July was a solid but unspectacular month for what looks to be turning out to be an unspectacular year," said Waksman. "Agricultural may be on its way to first up year since 2014, while diversif...................... To view our full article Click here
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