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Seeking Alpha – The second hedge fund replication ETF from IndexIQ began trading on Tuesday (6/09/09). According to the press release, the IQ Hedge Macro Tracker ETF (MCRO) seeks to deliver risk-adjusted return characteristics similar to macro and emerging-market style hedge funds.
IndexIQ maintains indexes representing seven separate hedge fund strategies. Their first ETF, the IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy Tracker ETF (QAI), was launched on March 25 and is a composite of all seven underlying strategies.
The new MCRO ETF is designed to track two of the underlying strategies: the IQ Hedge Global Macro Beta Index and the IQ Hedge Emerging Markets Beta Index. The allocation to each strategy will change over time using a rules-based methodology.
Bloomberg – Asia hedge-fund closures jumped 19 percent this year, with the industry set to shrink for the first time as clients withdraw more money after funds in the region underperformed rivals in the U.S. and Europe.
“It is likely that we’ll see a net reduction in the number of Asian hedge funds through this current year,” Peter Douglas, principal of Singapore-based hedge fund consulting firm GFIA Pte, said in an interview yesterday. “Almost without exception, the managers that we talk to in Asia are seeing capital outflows, some of it is minor, some of it major.”
About 70 hedge funds in Asia have shut down as of August, an increase from 59 in the first eight months of last year, according to Eurekahedge. There are 618 Asia-focused managers managing 1,199 hedge funds, compared with 1,196 funds in December. Assets under management fell to $168 billion in August, from $176 billion at the end of 2007, according to the Singapore-based hedge fund research and publishing company.
Asia’s hedge-fund managers — more than half of whom trade only equities — have underperformed their U.S. and European counterparts whose more diverse strategies allowed them to profit from turmoil in financial markets. Asia’s hedge-fund average returns fell 12.6 percent this year, compared with declines of 0.1 percent in North America and 5.8 percent in Europe, Eurekahedge said. Asia gained 18 percent in 2007, outperforming both regions.
Hedge Funds Review Magazine – Greenwich Associates conducted a study of 146 institutions in North America and Europe to determine how fears of counterparty risk were affecting institutional investment and trading strategies.
The study revealed that 37% of participating institutions have over $50 billion in assets under management. A further 18% have more than $100 billion.
Survey respondents were divided between 32 hedge funds, 114 banks and traditional long-only investors, with the majority domiciled in the US (70%) and 30% in Canada and Europe.
Among US institutions, 85% sees credit default swap (CDS) counterparty risk as a serious threat to global markets. Institutions in Europe are slightly more sanguine; with just over 55% describing CDS counterparty risk as a significant danger.
Over 905 of hedge funds, however, said they see counterparty risk relative to credit default swaps as posing a significant threat to global markets.
