The upward trend continued for managed futures in March, posting a third straight positive month with a 1.24% gain per the Newedge CTA Index. After a similar gain in January and nearly flat February, this month brought the index’s YTD performance up to 2.82%.

The stock market rally that just won’t quit added another month to its tally, but there were several other trends that emerged or strengthened in March. There were good up trends in natural gas and crude oil, and in currencies the US dollar continued upward while the Euro fell. But the downward trend in the Yen that many managers have enjoyed in the last few months fizzled.

Speaking of downward trends – copper also continued its decline that began in late January. But the big downward move this month was the drop in grains following the USDA grain report – including a limit-down move in corn. Several of the trend followers we track held long corn positions heading into Thursday’s USDA grain report, but the sell-off in the grains on the last trading day of the month shaved less than a tenth of a percentage point off of the index.