On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the novel coronavirus disease 2019, known as COVID-19 (“COVID-19”), a pandemic. As governments and organizations around the world implement various measures in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19, including imposing travel restrictions, quarantining of employees and other efforts focusing on social distancing, the impact on Grant Park cannot be determined. However, because Grant Park allocates assets among multiple third party trading advisors and reference traders, at least some of whom trade internationally, COVID-19 had a material impact on Grant Park, its operations for the later part of the first quarter of 2020 and the general partner expects COVID-19 to have a material impact on Grant Park, its operations and possible economic consequences for at least all or a portion of the remaining calendar year 2020 and potentially longer.
Key trading developments for Grant Park during the first six months of 2020 included the following:
January. Grant Park recorded losses during the month. Class A units were down 1.14%, Class B units were down 1.19%, Legacy 1 Class units were down 0.95%, Legacy 2 Class units were down 0.97%, Global 1 Class units were down 0.91%, Global 2 Class units were down 0.93% and Global 3 Class units were down 1.06%. Overall Grant Park performance was negative, led by losses in the equities sector. Positive performance in the fixed income, agriculturals, energies, metals and currencies sectors partially offset Grant Park losses. Negative performance in equities was driven by positions in the FTSE, MSCI EM, Dax, Nikkei and Hang Seng indices. Positive performance in the fixed income sector was driven by positions in the Bund, U.S. Treasury Bonds, Euro OAT Futures, U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes and eurodollars. Gains in the agriculturals sector were led by positions in soybeans, soybean meal and sugar. Performance in the energies sector was driven by positions in gas oil, heating oil and natural gas. Positive performance in metals was led by positions in gold. Performance in the currencies sector was slightly positive as gains from positions in the euro and Australian dollar were somewhat offset by losses in positions in the Swedish krona.
February. Grant Park recorded losses during the month. Class A units were down 3.79%, Class B units were down 3.84%, Legacy 1 Class units were down 3.60%, Legacy 2 Class units were down 3.62%, Global 1 Class units were down 3.55%, Global 2 Class units were down 3.57% and Global 3 Class units were down 3.72%. Overall Grant Park performance was negative, led by losses in the equities and agriculturals sectors. Positive performance in the fixed income, currencies, metals and energies sectors partially offset Grant Park losses. Negative performance in equities was driven by positions in the FTSE, Nikkei, S&P 500, Dow, MSCI EM and Eurostoxx indices. Losses in agriculturals were led by positions in wheat, cotton, soybean meal and soybeans. Positive performance in the fixed income sector was driven by positions in the Bund, eurodollars, U.S. Treasury Bonds, U.S. 10-year Treasury Notes, Euro OAT Futures and U.S. 5-year Treasury Notes. Gains in the currencies sector were led by positions in the euro, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar and Canadian dollar. Performance in the metals sector was driven by positions in gold and silver. Energies performance was flat as gains from positions in gas oil and brent oil were offset by losses from positions in gasoline blendstock and crude oil.
March. Grant Park recorded losses during the month. Class A units were down 11.46%, Class B units were down 11.51%, Legacy 1 Class units were down 11.29%, Legacy 2 Class units were down 11.31%, Global 1 Class units were down 11.25%, Global 2 Class units were down 11.27% and Global 3 Class units were down 11.40%. Overall Grant Park performance was negative, led by losses in the equities sector. Positive performance in the currencies, energies, agriculturals, fixed income and metals sectors partially offset Grant Park losses. Negative performance in equities was driven by positions in the FTSE, Nikkei, MSCI EM, Dax, S&P Midcap, Russell 2000, S&P Canada and Eurostoxx indices. Positive performance in the currencies sector was driven by positions in the Norwegian krone, Canadian dollar, euro, Australian dollar and Japanese yen. Gains in the energies sector were led by positions in brent oil, gas oil and heating oil. Performance in the agriculturals sector was driven by positions in soybean, cotton and live cattle. Fixed income performance was positive led by positions in eurodollars, bunds, U.S. treasury bonds and U.S. 5-year treasury notes. Metals performance was slightly positive as losses in gold positions offset some gains from positions in copper and silver.
April. Grant Park recorded gains during the month. Class A units were up 1.21%, Class B units were up 1.15%, Legacy 1 Class units were up 1.40%, Legacy 2 Class units were up 1.38%, Global 1 Class units were up 1.45%, Global 2 Class units were up 1.43% and Global 3 Class units were up 1.28%. Overall Grant Park performance was positive, led by gains in the equities, fixed income, energies and metals sectors. Negative performance in the currencies and agriculturals sectors partially offset Grant Park gains. Positive performance in the equities sector was driven by positions in the OMX 30, Dax, FTSE, MSCI EM and the S&P Midcap indices. Performance in the fixed income sector was led by positions in