Concerns about the weather pattern caused an initial “pop” in a number of agricultural commodity prices over the last couple of months, said Matthew Bradbard, director at RCM Alternative, a Chicago-based firm that specialized in managed future products.
El Niño Tests How Soft Commodities Weather the Storm – (Wall Street Journal)
Bottom line: it messes with the typical weather, causing some areas to be wetter, some drier, some warmer, some colder. Which in turn messes with things that grow based on the weather. The big thing is that it is a significant change in the weather for the areas it hits, or more specifically – significant enough to alter yields on agricultural crops.
Everything you need to know about El Nino & Commodities – (Attain Alternatives Blog)
If they don’t understand it at a basic level, it sounds really scary. The biggest part of our conversation is to communicate what the strategy is.”
Confusion over alternative investments a “big” challenge, area experts say – (Houston Business Journal)
The problem with this line of thinking is that one year returns in the markets are pretty meaningless. They provide very little signal and plenty of noise.
One Year Returns Don’t Tell You Anything – (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Simply recognizing that the job of understanding what your clients’ goals and fears and needs are is at least as important as crunching the numbers.” He continues: “If you understand how people think, then it’ll be easier for you to communicate with people and devise strategies that they will be able to implement.”
What Your Financial Adviser Needs to Know About Your Brain – (Time)
There is a huge difference between a fund manager (the security analyst in Smith’s example), who comes up with individual investment ideas for a specific strategy and the conductor, who puts together the individual asset classes and strategies into a coherent portfolio strategy. It’s the difference between a portfolio manager and portfolio management.
The Difference Between a Portfolio Manager & Portfolio Management – (A Wealth of Common Sense)
Amid China slowdown fears, this could lead to additional volatility in currencies and commodities across developed and emerging markets. Balanced growth investors should focus on adding to global macro and managed futures strategies to mitigate the pickup in broad market volatility.
The Guide Theme VII: Global Macro and Managed Futures Strategies – (Morgan Stanley)
Our point: Unless you’re making a career out of trading these markets, trying to time when to enter and exit a commodity market is dangerous and can be costly. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have access to strategies that allow you to reap the gains. If you haven’t guessed what’s coming next, we’re about to name drop Managed Futures.
Should You Be Weary of Inverse Commodity ETFs? – (Attain Alternatives Blog)
Why Managed Futures Funds Fared Well in a Brutal Third Quarter – (The Street)
