As the Republican primaries continue on, a big topic of conversation has been how individual presidents would impact the economy. Ritholtz has always done a pretty good job at digitally shaking his head at these kinds of conversations. That being said, his dismissing of the President’s impact on market movement is typically looked at from a 20,000 foot perspective. What about the immediate aftermath?
Category: Markets
23
Feb
2012
22
Feb
2012
Market Dynamics and CTA Performance – February 2012 Update
When CTAs evaluate the markets, they’re looking for different things, depending on their strategy. That being said, especially in the trend following space, managers will often select markets in order to diversify their program and hedge against all of their positions losing money in one fell swoop. Of course, futures trading is complex, and there is always a risk of loss, but these market selection tactics help CTAs better manage risk within a program.
2011 made that difficult, as we outlined in our 2012 outlook. After seeing higher than usual market correlations and a major surge in risk on/risk off trading, CTAs were hoping that 2012 would give them a trading atmosphere better suited for market diversification. How’s that working out?
21
Feb
2012
Week in Review
We usually include our take on the previous week in our regular newsletter, but due to the President’s Day holiday, our next newsletter won’t come out until next week. So instead, we’re sharing our summary of last week’s markets, trading systems, and CTAs right here. Enjoy!
08
Feb
2012
Nasdaq 10,000
It has been a truly amazing start to 2012 in the stock market. Exhibit A? The Nasdaq, which has taken on the 45 degree up angle chart pattern more typically seen in a curve fit hypothetical track record than in an actual stock market.
01
Feb
2012
Long-only Commodity ETFs v. Futures- January 2012
Every month, we compare how long-only commodity ETFs perform in comparison to simply trading the related futures contract and rolling it annually. This month, there were some interesting results. How interesting?
25
Jan
2012
Stay Golden, Ponyboy
We were sort of missing writing about Gold’s wild moves. After all, it’s been pretty tame for the yellow metal lately. As it turns out, the barbarous relic is back to its old tricks, and today’s move does well as a classic example of why futures trading- particularly in precious metals- is not for the […]
20
Jan
2012
The Quiet Before the Storm?
It’s been quiet so far in 2012. Too quiet, if you ask us. Perhaps our complaints sound hollow in light of the recent credit downgrades and the political fireworks stateside, but the markets simply aren’t providing the entertainment we’d grown accustomed to in 2011. Not convinced? See what we mean? Where are those big monthly […]
12
Jan
2012
Risk On/Risk Off: The Rollercoaster in Pictures
In reflecting on 2011 and the great risk on/risk off dialogue, we began to consider our own contributions to the conversation. The isolation of a day as being risk on or risk off in our publications had been far from scientific. Deriving inspiration from Oliver Wendell Holmes, we never attempted to define what made a […]
05
Jan
2012
How Much to Risk in a Risk On/Risk Off Market
Yesterday we covered the correlation levels between the various traditional asset classes, but today, we’re more interested in the correlation between the markets themselves. While traditional stock brokers were lamenting the rise in correlation among various stocks, CTAs in the managed futures space were becoming frustrated by the way the risk on/risk off plays were […]
30
Dec
2011
Feeder Cattle (+20%) and 30 Year Bonds (+18%) top 2011 commodities performers
Everyone’s talking about Milk as 2011’s top performing commodity, but we’re more interested in markets that managed futures professionals actually trade, like Bonds, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, and Cotton. Per our favorite quote site, Finviz.com, we find the following 2011 stats for commodity markets. [Please note – finviz does some weird things around contract rolls, […]
