Fund performance

Sales people are having a hard time marketing new products in isolation, one executive says.

The major issuers of leveraged products, which trade under the ProShares and Direxion trademarks, have each posted inflows of over $2.8 billion this month.

“Recent further Fed action from COVID-19 seems to put another layer on a near-40-year bond bull market,” an expert says.

After becoming unmoored in recent weeks as bond market liquidity dried up, funds that stand to benefit from the central bank’s buying are now rallying.

Five of the top seven performers this year carry AA ratings.

The firm had received margin calls from counterparties including BNP Paribas after its trades went awry, people familiar with the matter said.

Funds with higher risk profiles — high-yield and emerging markets — are now paying the price.

With more than $80 billion in combined assets under management, the winners have started out the year with a loss.

The bank says it has decided to “effectively eliminate the net leverage” of its MLP Income Opportunities Fund and MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund.

Fund managers may be better equipped to weather the market storm than their passive peers because of their ability to quickly cut risk.