The story of October was one of fall – nearly every asset class on the scoreboard ended the month lower. Unfortunately, our favorite asset class posted the deepest loss, and with just two months left in the year, only a serious disruption could shake up the scoreboard at this point.
Category: Markets
05
Nov
2012
02
Nov
2012
Risk On/Risk Off Market Snapshot- October 2012
When markets are highly correlated, it can be tough to stay diversified. If various markets are moving up or down in unison, that can quickly cause your risk and volatility to get out of hand. That’s why we’ve started keeping an eye on two statistics that illustrate how easy or difficult it has been to stay diversified in the futures markets: the risk on/risk off trade, and market correlations.
01
Nov
2012
Long-only Commodity ETFs vs. Futures- October 2012
It’s time for our monthly look at how the long-only commodity ETFs are performing versus simply holding the December futures contract and rolling annually. Futures trading is complicated, presents a risk of loss, and isn’t for everyone but we’ve yet to receive a good answer to the question: why invest in an ETF when you can just roll December futures contracts annually?
30
Oct
2012
Getting Back to Business as Usual
While we’ve all been glued to our TV screens watching the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, a different kind of drama has been unfolding in the stock and futures exchanges in the US. Futures trading here in Chicago has been interrupted, but with the worst of the storm over (for New York, at least) it appears that it will be back to business as usual tomorrow.
23
Oct
2012
Flight to Safety = Treasuries… and Natural Gas?
Last year we wondered if natural gas was becoming a “flight to quality” play; rising on days when traditional “risk” assets were decidedly down. While that hasn’t been the case for most of the year, the curious price action of natural gas on down days was on display today.
11
Oct
2012
Trading by the Tides
The risk on/risk off trade is kind of like that old saying about rising tides lifting all ships… and a falling tide letting them all down at once. We’ve been frustrated by the headline-driven markets lately, and judging by Alcoa’s conference call yesterday, we aren’t the only ones.
04
Oct
2012
Asset Class Scoreboard- September Update
With three quarters of the year behind us, it’s time to update our asset class scoreboard. September was another lackluster month for CTAs – definitely not what managed futures investors were hoping for.
02
Oct
2012
Risk On/Risk Off Market Snapshot- September 2012
When markets are highly correlated, it can be tough to stay diversified. If various markets are moving up or down in unison, that can quickly cause your risk and volatility to get out of hand. That’s why we’ve started keeping an eye on two statistics that illustrate how easy or difficult it has been to stay diversified in the futures markets: the risk on/risk off trade, and market correlations.
01
Oct
2012
Long-only Commodity ETFs vs. Futures- September 2012
It’s time for our monthly look at how the long-only commodity ETFs are performing versus simply holding the December futures contract and rolling annually. Futures trading is complicated, presents a risk of loss, and isn’t for everyone, but we’ve yet to receive a good answer to the question: why invest in an ETF when you can just roll December futures contracts annually?
28
Sep
2012
Looking Inside the Cotton Peak
The spike in cotton prices during the beginning of 2011 was one for the record books. And now, thanks to the CFTC, we’re learning a little more about some of the trading that was going on during that record spike.
