Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: Investors' concern about an impending trade war between the U.S. and China, as well as the latest data breach at Facebook has fueled a continuation of declines in global equity markets as the Barclay CTA Index fell 0.34% in March (-1.71% YTD), data compiled by BarclayHedge showed.
Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge, commented, "Concerns of a US/China trade war and a data hacking scandal at Facebook helped fuel a second month of declines in global equities and a flight to quality that drove fixed income yields lower."
The Financials and Metals Traders Index also retreated 0.71% last month, while diversified traders lost 0.55%, and systematic traders gave up 0.50%.
"Although aluminum and other base metals gave up ground on the month, the recovery in energy markets helped to offset some of those losses," Waksman added.
On the positive side, agricultural traders were up 1.01%, and discretionary traders gained 0.28%.
At the end of the first quarter, agricultural traders have gained 2.12% in 2018, the discretionary traders index has gained 1.50%, and currency traders are up 0.71%.
However, systematic traders and diversified traders have lost 1.82% year to date, and financials/metals traders have a 1.08% negative return.
The BTOP50 Index, which is composed of the largest CTAs open to new investment, gained 0.18% in March,...................... To view our full article Click here
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