Markets have acted like a fiercely contested sporting match on a year-to-date basis with the lead continuously changing hands during the first half and a tie at halftime. In sports it’s often said that avoiding mistakes and having a strong defence is the key to winning closely contested games. With excess supply continuing to constrain global growth and the FOMC poised to begin its hiking cycle, that analogy may be the winning formula for stocks during the second half of 2015.
While major North American equity indices and bond markets were on either side of flat at the mid-point of 2015, our funds at Forge First have seen strong absolute and risk-adjusted net returns. The Forge First Long Short LP (“FFLSLP”) earned a net return of 17.78% for the Class F Lead Series during the first half of 2015 while the Forge First Multi Strategy LP (“FFMSLP”) climbed 13.36% net of fees for the Class F Lead Series. More on the funds in a moment, but first let’s recap the first half...