Investments News Monday 17th September 2007

Actively managed U.S. stock investment at 12 year low

A resurgent stock market traditionally results in a flood of investment in to U.S. stock funds. This previous year however has seen investment of just $22.9bn into actively managed mutual funds, the lowest recorded for over 12 years. While this may sound like a large sum, it is a drop in the ocean when compared against the $6.4 trillion of assets available to the funds. June and July were particularly slack months with little significant investment recorded.

One of the main causes for this downturn is that these funds have been consistently outperformed by international and overseas funds over the past few years. As much as 70% of actively managed U.S stocks have underperformed the market. Many investors were also hit hard by the stock market disaster between 2000 and 2002, and the Nasdaq is continuing its downturn with losses of over 35% since the millennium.

In contrast, other types of funds have been attracting a lot of investment. Over the same period, international funds that invest both in the U.S and in foreign markets have attracted over $150bn. Mixed equity funds and exchange traded funds have also been acquiring investor’s cash with over $200bn raised between the two types of fund.

It seems that poor performance of the actively managed U.S. funds is causing investors to rethink their strategy with many of the wealthiest choosing to invest in overseas markets.


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