InvestNow News – 9th Jan 20 – Salt – Long Short Fund Fact Sheet – Dec 2019
The Fund delivered a strong performance in December, with a return of +1.70% after all fees and expenses. We had gone sideways for much of the month but experienced a very strong final three days in contrast to the sharp sell-off in the NZ and Australian markets.
The Fund aims to deliver an equity-like return but with far less volatility and no correlation to equities. To make sure that we are being true to label and not simply being long and riding a bull market, we carefully measure our performance on down days. In December, there were eight days where the Aust/NZ equity index fell and it had an average performance of -0.52% on those days, whereas the Fund averaged a very strong +0.35% on those days.
After a huge move in 2019, equity markets are beginning 2020 at record valuation levels and at extreme levels of bullish sentiment. This combination makes us very wary as to the continued longevity of this historically extended bull market. This Fund will do its level best to deliver uncorrelated returns regardless of what the market holds for us in the year ahead.