Don’t look now, but it appears as though everyone’s favorite sector, metals, is on the move in a major way. Of course all these metals are down major from their all time highs two years ago, meaning this could be just a ‘dead cat bounce’
Category: Managed Futures
08
Aug
2013
08
Aug
2013
Commodity ETF Under Performance – July
We’re adding to our monthly look at how bad of an investment Commodity ETFs are, by including three additional ETFs, as well as the BarclayHedge Ag Trader Index for comparison. Commodity ETFs suffer from a little problem known as only being able to make money when commodities go up. Read ’em and Weep:
07
Aug
2013
If a Cow gets sick in New Zealand?
So you think you want to trade currencies. You better be up to date on the butterfly effect, or in this case – the Cow effect. earlier this week, China banned milk from New Zealand because of bacterium that could cause botulism. The news was enough to send the New Zealand Dollar down around 1%, leading headline grabbing Business Insider to declare “Dairy Scare Is Causing Chaos For The New Zealand Dollar.” But is the milk actually the cause of the chaos, and it is actually chaos to begin with?
06
Aug
2013
The ‘Problem’ with Liquid Alternatives – in one nice Table
Adding ‘alternatives’ to your portfolio has never been as easy as today with the plethora of so called ‘liquid alternatives’, or mutual funds specializing in alternative investments such as mutual funds, which has made it even easier to separate the naive from their money. Principal Group explains all you ever need to know about managed futures in your portfolio in just a couple sentences. (heavy on the sarcasm).
06
Aug
2013
Forget the VIX – look at Global Market Volatility
Our friends at Chadwick Investment Group are out with a short research piece talking about how the VIX doesn’t really get the job done for analyzing whether the volatility environment is good or bad for managed futures:. The rest of their piece is a nice ‘back to the basics’ look at how volatility in multiple markets affects trend following returns, including some charts showing global volatility back near pre-crisis 2007 levels. Here’s to hoping that is a spring being loaded up with tension about to pop like it did in 2008…
05
Aug
2013
Risk On/Risk Off Market Snapshot: July 2013
After three consecutive above average Risk On/Risk Off months, the collective markets dipped back below the trend line in July – with just a single Risk On day coming a day after Fed Chairman Bernanke announced the Federal Reserve was delaying the end of QE. What does this mean for managed futures?
05
Aug
2013
Managed Futures Down -0.98% in July
Speaking in baseball terms, Managed Futures is in a bit of a batting slump, recording 3 consecutive monthly losses with a down July according to the Newedge CTA Index; bringing the year to date to roughly even. If you’re looking for something positive, I guess we can say the -0.98%. was a little better than the past two months.
01
Aug
2013
Credit Crunch Risk… Hedge Funds = Yes, Managed Futures = No
The SEC is bolstering/demonizing the reputation of hedge funds, with the somewhat shocking headline that the top hedge funds hold more than $1 Trillion in debt… This is another instance where we like to brag a little. You Ready? Managed Futures total debt = $0 The difference between managed futures and hedge funds are that managed futures doesn’t need to barrow money… Ever.
01
Aug
2013
Makin’ It Rain on the CFTC?
While our nation’s leaders battle out a bill that allocates funding for the IRS, we in the managed futures industry are playing close attention, as a provision in the bill would give the CFTC an additional $110 Million in its budget, $8 Million more than the CFTC’s original proposal . This is far from becoming law, but in the meantime, we must contemplate how they funds will be utilized.
31
Jul
2013
Cool Crude Charts
We re-jogged our memories about the definitions of Contango and Backwardation when Crude Oil experienced the highest level of backwardation in 15 years. Now, Newedge is out with a great piece tackling everything from the CME fine tuning the nickel content allowed in deliverable crude, to Egypt’s foreign reserves to the Jones Act which requires any goods moving from a US port to another US port to be done on a US flagged vessel.
