Category Archives: etf

Video: The World Is Going Passive. Is It A Mistake?

Man Group’s 2016 Unconventional Views video series is designed to present original thoughts and insights that challenge the consensus view. The videos feature leading executives from the firm’s four investment engines, Man AHL, Man GLG, Man FRM and Man Numeric, explaining their views on various investment themes. In recent years, there has been a seismic shift within the asset management industry from active to passive investing. In this video, Ben Funnell, Portfolio Manager at Man GLG, considers this shift and explains why he thinks the growing alpha opportunity in the market is tipping the balance back in favor of active management. He outlines several structural and cyclical reasons to support his argument that today’s investors should take a second look at active management: Fund alpha is more important later in a market cycle, and this alpha is vital for many institutional investors with real growth hurdles and obligations to distribute. The stock-picker’s opportunity set is increasing along with the percentage of stock-specific return, which may represent a structural change. Smart beta may not be so smart, especially since allocating away from active managers still requires active decision-making. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The value of an investment and any income derived from it can go down as well as up and investors may not get back their original amount invested. Opinions expressed are those of the author, may not be shared by all personnel of Man Group plc (‘Man’) and are subject to change without notice.

Tactical Asset Allocation – March 2016 Update

Here is the tactical asset allocation update for March 2016. As I mentioned last couple of months, I am now using a new data source for the portfolio updates. I am also maintaining the old portfolio formats in Yahoo Finance for a while. Here is the link to the Yahoo data. Below are the updates for the AGG3, AGG6, and GTAA13 portfolios. The source data can be found here . The big change here is the use of FINVIZ data, and more importantly, that these signals are valid after every trading day. So, while I’ll maintain these month-end updates, this means that you can implement your portfolio changes on any day of the month, not just at month-end. FINVIZ will, at times, generate signals that are slightly different from those of Yahoo Finance. Click to enlarge This month, AGG3 is 33% in gold, a new holding, and one that has not been in the portfolio for quite a while. AGG6 has some more bonds and a holding in real estate, VNQ . The approximate monthly and YTD performance is below. Click to enlarge For the Antonacci dual momentum GEM and GBM portfolios, GEM is still in bonds, BND , and the bond portion of GBM is in SHY . I’ve also made my Antonacci tracking sheet shareable, so you can see the portfolio details for yourself. The Bond 3 quant model (see spreadsheet ) ranks the bond ETFs by 6-month return and uses the absolute 6-month return as a cash filter to be invested or not. The Bond 3 quant model is invested in VGLT, IEF, and HYMB. That’s it for this month. These portfolios signals are valid for the whole month of March. As always, post any questions you have in the comments.