Managed futures started the year with a 0.41% loss in January according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

“The chief drivers of CTA performance in January were an improving economic outlook and geo-political uncertainty in the Middle East,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “Unfortunately for investors, the impact of these opposing forces had disparate regional effects and created difficult crosscurrents for managers.”

All eight of Barclay’s CTA indices started 2011 in the red. The Barclay Agricultural Traders Index lost 1.02% in January, Currency Traders were down 0.68%, Financial & Metals Traders lost 0.39%, Systematic Traders slid 0.40%, and Diversified Traders were down 0.34%.

“Although equity markets in developed countries responded positively to upbeat economic forecasts, investors in developing nations worried about inflation pressures and monetary tightening,” says Waksman. “And although bond prices declined in the US, investors decided that the improved outlook would result in a decline in business defaults and consequently bid up prices for High Yield debt securities.”

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which measures performance of the largest CTAs, lost 1.11% in January.