Will Trump’s victory become a “paradigm shift” moment? – Month in Review: October 2024
Macroeconomic Environment Review
October was a month of gains for the US Dollar that saw its relative performance against its peers strengthen even as the Federal Reserve started implementing its rate-cut policy. The EUR/USD dropped heavily to trade all the way down to 1.08 while Sterling saw losses down to 1.29. Volatility was elevated and with the victory of Donald Trump in the US elections the question now becomes what will happen with the Fed’s mandate to ease policy. Several analysts voiced their concerns on whether Trump’s “tariff agenda” will drive domestic inflation pressures higher again, forcing the US central bank to change course and potentially even reverse it on a longer-term basis. This remains to be seen but what’s certain is that uncertainty and hence volatility is here to stay.
US equity markets witnessed a change of direction during October and even though the sentiment was bullish for the first part of the month, investors decided to take some profits off the table forcing the US indices to end the month largely unchanged or slightly negative. As mentioned above, the main question now revolves around the new President’s domestic and foreign agendas and how these will take a toll on market performance. Recent comments from the Fed indicated that they’re not in a hurry to keep cutting rates, a quote that stalled enthusiasm among longer-term investors and, combined with worries about corporate performance and the effect of the AI economy create an uncertain future for US equities.
Monthly Performance Review
During October 2024, AENAON Systematic Strategies generated the following total returns:
Across the spectrum of our benchmark indices, our strategies’ performance during October was mildly negative. As a comparison, the US S&P 500 equities index lost 0.99%, the Barclay Hedge Fund Index posted a 0.61% decline, the Barclay CTA Index shed 1.10% while the other benchmark indices can be seen on the chart below.
Chart 1: Monthly Performance vs. Benchmark Indices – October 2024
Charts 2, 3 and 4: Inception-to-Date Performance vs. Benchmark Indices
You can always review our updated factsheets at the following Fundpeak links, with monthly performance updates and statistics since inception:
