The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index was down -2.7% in August. 1 out of 12 Lyxor Indices ended the month in positive territory. The Lyxor Convertible Arbitrage Index (+3.3%), the Lyxor L/S Equity Variable Bias Index (-0.7%), and the Lyxor L/S Equity Market Neutral Index (-1.1%) were the best performers.

Amundi ETF announces the launch of the first ETF in Europe leveraging the theme of European share buybacks, by tracking the MSCI Europe Equal Weighted Buyback Yield strategy index. The launch represents another innovative expansion of Amundi ETF's European equity Smart Beta range.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) today announced the launch of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Infrastructure, a new benchmark that will measure the sustainability of infrastructure investments.

At the turn of the month, hedge funds rebounded as market conditions improved. The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index was up 0.4% last week, following a 3.3% drawdown in August. Year to date, hedge funds have demonstrated their ability to protect portfolios, returning - 0.3% whilst the MSCI World and JPM Global Aggregate Bond Index were down 7% and 2.3% respectively.

In a new study entitled “Factor Investing: A Welfare-Improving New Investment Paradigm or Yet Another Marketing Fad?”, drawn from the Lyxor research chair on “Risk Allocation Solutions”, EDHEC-Risk examines the relative efficiency of standard forms of practical implementation of the factor investing paradigm based on commonly used factors in the equity, fixed-income and commodity universes.