Weekly Recap: Conflicts

world.2014-12-12.2014-12-19

Equities

Major
DAX(DEU) +2.00%
CAC(FRA) +3.23%
UKX(GBR) +3.88%
NKY(JPN) +1.44%
SPX(USA) +2.42%
MINTs
JCI(IDN) -0.31%
INMEX(MEX) +2.18%
NGSEINDX(NGA) -1.49%
XU030(TUR) +0.92%
BRICS
IBOV(BRA) +3.43%
SHCOMP(CHN) +5.80%
NIFTY(IND) +0.01%
INDEXCF(RUS) -0.72%
TOP40(ZAF) +2.96%

Commodities

Energy
Ethanol -5.78%
WTI Crude Oil -0.41%
RBOB Gasoline -1.60%
Brent Crude Oil -1.00%
Heating Oil -2.34%
Natural Gas -8.76%
Metals
Gold 100oz -2.18%
Palladium -1.18%
Platinum -2.83%
Copper -0.68%
Silver 5000oz -7.02%

Currencies

USDEUR:+1.82% USDJPY:+0.64%

MINTs
USDIDR(IDN) +0.24%
USDMXN(MEX) -0.68%
USDNGN(NGA) +0.83%
USDTRY(TUR) +0.75%
BRICS
USDBRL(BRA) +0.32%
USDCNY(CHN) +0.53%
USDINR(IND) +1.61%
USDRUB(RUS) +2.29%
USDZAR(ZAF) -0.08%
Agricultural
Cocoa +3.59%
Corn +3.53%
Soybean Meal -3.96%
Soybeans -1.39%
Coffee (Arabica) +0.57%
Cotton +0.12%
Feeder Cattle -2.39%
Orange Juice -5.25%
Sugar #11 -0.40%
Wheat +0.88%
Cattle -0.34%
Coffee (Robusta) -2.21%
Lean Hogs -6.49%
Lumber +0.29%
White Sugar +0.10%

Credit Indices

Index Change
Markit CDX EM -0.30%
Markit CDX NA HY +0.52%
Markit CDX NA IG +0.73%
Markit iTraxx Asia ex-Japan IG +8.59%
Markit iTraxx Australia +7.20%
Markit iTraxx Europe +4.16%
Markit iTraxx Europe Crossover +16.58%
Markit iTraxx Japan +2.11%
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe +2.94%
Markit LCDX (Loan CDS) -0.18%
Markit MCDX (Municipal CDS) +2.46%
All I can say about this week is that I am glad that its over.
The NIFTY ended flat for the week but that hides the roller-coaster ride it put investors through. After all the oil-related panic, the S&P ended up more than 2% for the week.
Oil ended down, dollar up.
Hopefully Santa visits before expiry.

Index Returns

index performance.2014-12-12.2014-12-19

Advance Decline

advance.decline.line2.2014-12-12.2014-12-19

Market Cap Decile Performance

Decile Mkt. Cap. Adv/Decl
1 (micro) -6.25% 63/74
2 -3.65% 63/73
3 -2.93% 64/73
4 -2.21% 61/75
5 -3.07% 63/73
6 -1.98% 65/72
7 -2.00% 56/80
8 -1.38% 64/73
9 -1.17% 64/72
10 (mega) -0.01% 68/69
The sell-off was brutal below the mega-caps…

Top Winners and Losers

ZEEL +5.45%
PETRONET +6.27%
PFC +8.11%
DLF -13.19%
BAJAJHLDNG -8.34%
RCOM -7.32%
Broad based action saw a mix of winners and losers…

ETF Performance

CPSEETF +3.32%
BANKBEES +0.98%
INFRABEES +0.54%
NIFTYBEES -0.03%
JUNIORBEES -0.22%
GOLDBEES -0.99%
PSUBNKBEES -1.93%
Banks withstood the onslaught well…

Yield Curve

yield Curve.2014-12-12.2014-12-19

Bond Indices

Sub Index Change in YTM Total Return(%)
GSEC TB +0.44 +0.04%
GSEC SUB 1-3 +0.43 -0.43%
GSEC SUB 3-8 +0.19 -0.53%
GSEC SUB 8 +0.08 -0.34%
Yields went up – breaking a long streak of falling rates.

Investment Theme Performance

Thought for the weekend

Asset managers and asset owners have a relationship beset with natural conflicts.

  1. Asset owners want fees below 10 bps; asset managers prefer “2% + 20%.”
  2. Asset owners want transparency; asset managers favor black-box opacity.
  3. Asset owners want simplicity; asset managers hire rocket scientists to create complex optimized solutions for sex appeal.
  4. Asset owners want “future” outperformance after they fund a manager; asset managers would be satisfied with strong past outperformance to facilitate future asset gathering.
  5. Asset owners want a bigger alpha; asset managers would happily sell them the possibility of alpha and charge handsomely for the service of selling hope.

Source: The Promise of Smart Beta