Barclay CTA Index up 1.54 per cent in November and heads for best performance since 1995

Date: Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Author: Barclay Hedge

Managed futures enjoyed a new gain of 1.54 per cent in November, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by Fairfield, Iowa-based index provider BarclayHedge, taking the index's cumulative advance to 12.69 per cent over the first 11 months of this year, compared with declines of 21.27 per cent for hedge funds and 37.66 per cent for the S&P 500 index.

'CTAs appear to be on track to achieve their best annual performance since 1995, when the Barclay CTA Index gained 13.64 per cent,' says BarclayHedge founder and president Sol Waksman.

The Barclay Financial/Metals Index gained 1.98 per cent in November, Systematic Traders were up 1.87 per cent, and the Diversified Traders Index rose 1.84 per cent. 'In response to sharp declines in growth, governments focused on deflation, lowered interest rates, and bond prices rallied,' Waksman says.

Barclay's Diversified Traders Index has gained 24.54 per cent so far in 2008, while the Systematic Traders benchmark is up 16.50 per cent and Discretionary Traders have gained 12.17 per cent.

'As the economy continued to slow, the down-trend in commodities was extended as demand and prices for energy products, base metals, and agricultural products all declined,' Waksman says. 'Traders that shorted stock index futures had been able to take substantial profits as the S&P 500 dropped to levels not seen in more than a decade.'

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, rose by 1.74 per cent in November, and is now up 11.86 per cent for the year so far.

Founded as the Barclay Group in 1985, BarclayHedge tracks more than 6,7=600 hedge funds, funds of hedge funds and managed futures programmes and maintains 18 proprietary hedge fund and eight managed futures indices, providing data to clients including institutional investors, brokerage firms and private banks.