We mentioned in our 2011 Managed Futures Outlook how it may be tough for managed futures to see gains this year from further upside moves, but the entire grain complex is proving us wrong over the past several weeks, and again today – with the grain complex making fresh 1 to 2.5 year highs today after a bullish US crop report painted a picture of tightening supplies (stock to use ratio at 5% lowest since
Managed futures have, for the most part, participated – with those programs without profit targets and longer long term models maintaining the most exposure, and those with profit targets (they already booked gains on many grain positions) or looking at shorter term data with some positions, but not as many as one would like gievn the recent highs.
Looking at the charts to the right and their nice upward sloping trends over the past two and half months, we would expect systematic, multi market managers (aka trend followers) to be involved, and wouldn’t you know it, the list of managers we track with long grain exposure reads like a trend following anonymous roster:
Accela Short Term: Corn, Wheat, Mill Wheat, and Rapeseed- Attain Portfolio Advisors Strat Diversification: Kansas Wheat
- Auctos: Corn, Wheat, Soybean Meal, and Soybean Oil
- Clarke Worldwide: Corn, Wheat, and Soybean Meal
- Covenant Aggressive: Soybeans, Soybean Meal, and Soybean Oil
- Futures Truth MS4: Corn and Rough Rice
Hoffman: Corn and Soybean Meal- Integrated Global Concentrated: Soybeans, Wheat, and Soybean Oil
- James River Navigator: Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Soybean Meal, and Soybean Oil
- Mesirow Absolute: Corn
- Robinson Langley: Corn and Soybeans
