Commodity Assets Under Management Decline to $293 Billion, Barclays Says
Commodity assets under management fell by $7 billion from a record last month on renewed investor concern that economic growth may slow, curbing demand for raw materials, Barclays Capital said.
Assets fell to $293 billion, the first drop since January, London-based analyst Amrita Sen wrote in a report e-mailed today. Investors withdrew $5 billion from commodity index swaps, the first monthly decline in at least five years, Sen said.
“There was concern about the U.S. and concern about China that spooked the market,” Sen said. “In times like that, you probably want to go toward more active management rather than passive management” in indexes, she said.
Investors have become more positive on commodities this month, with managed money bets on higher U.S. commodity futures at an all-time high, Barclays said. “This better environment is likely to encourage fresh inflows to commodity investments this month,” Barclays said.
The S&P GSCI Total Return Index of 24 commodities has climbed 5.2 percent this month, after declining 5.5 percent in August. Housing, manufacturing and jobs figures this month have signaled improving economies in the U.S. and China.
Exchange-traded products and medium-term notes had inflows of $1.5 billion and $652 million in August, respectively, Barclays said. Precious metals had inflows of $874 million over the month while energy outflows equaled $1.7 billion, according to the report.
To contact the reporter on this story: Maria Kolesnikova in Moscow at mkolesnikova@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter@bloomberg.net.
Rate this Page