Investing April 15, 2003

CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index Higher in March

April 15, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index rose 0.26% in March, coming in slightly below February's 0.68% return.
Reported by

Now up 2.23% year-to-date, hedge funds managed only to outperform the MSCI World Index with its negative return of 0.27%, while S&P Total Returns (0.97%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (1.28%) both stayed positive and above the hedge fund mark.   However, the benchmark is once again outpacing the broader equity markets year to date, where the three broader markets are all down, MSCI World (4.94%), S&P Total Returns (3.15%) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (4.19%), according to data released by the CSFB Tremont Index.

Leading March’s charge was the dedicated short bias strategy, which was 1.23% higher, reversing a trend of negative returns that has contributed to a year-to-date return of -3.24%.   This was followed by event driven distressed index up 1.19% for the month and 5.28% thus far in 2003.  

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“Markets were very volatile as the war in Iraq resulted in a reversal of the initial sell-off,” said Oliver Schupp, President of Credit Suisse First Boston Tremont Index LLC in the news release.  “Seven out of ten hedge fund strategies provided positive returns despite a very difficult trading environment and increased concerns about the economic recovery.  For the year, the Index is up 2.23% while most equity indices are down between 3% to 4% and markets generally continue to depreciate.”

Other gains for the month were seen in:

  • Event Driven Multi Strategy:   1.05%
  • Event Driven:   1.01%
  • Emerging Markets:   1%
  • Convertible Arbitrage:   0.95%
  • Equity Market Neutral:   0.79%
  •   0.76%
  • Long/Short Equity:   0.43%
  • Fixed Income Arbitrage:   0.42%

On the other end were hedge fund strategies that lost money in March, led by managed futures at -6.10%, global macro lower by 0.66% and event driven risk arbitrage down 0.27%.   For the year, managed futures and global macro have managed to maintain positive returns of 6% and 3.24%, respectively, while event driven risk arbitrage has remain in the red by 1.37%.

Performance for the CSFB/Tremont Hedge Fund Index is calculated monthly.  March, February and year-to-date returns for all categories are at  www.hedgeindex.com .

Products April 14, 2003

SunGard Corbel Enhances RK Platform

April 14, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - SunGard Corbel has tacked on a defined contribution recurring rebalance transactions feature and Defined Benefit 412(i) plan recordkeeping options in its Relius Administration's version 8.2 release.
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According to the company, the Recurring Rebalance Transactions feature lets plan participants choose how often their investments should be rebalanced. The program can be scheduled and run unattended using Relius Administration’s Straight-Through Processing, or it can be used manually to create the transactions necessary to rebalance the investments for one or more plans, a plan group, or all plans.
 
412(i) plans, which produce larger tax deductions than standard defined benefit plans but usually for a shorter period of time, can now be valued through Relius Administration’s insurance annuity funding option.  These plans are funded totally with insurance products (life insurance and annuities).  They can produce larger contributions without actuarial certification because of the conservative assumptions embedded in the insurance products.

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