Barron’s has some details about the performance of equity mutual funds during Q3 2014. There’s not much left to say anymore about active stockpicking in a mutual fund wrapper.
The 8,112 diversified U.S. equity funds, with a collective $5.9 trillion in assets, lost 1.95% for the quarter, while Standard & Poor’s 500 index funds returned 0.99%.
This was the first loss for actively managed stock funds since the second quarter of 2012. But it was hardly the first time that active managers failed to beat the broad market; they trailed index funds in seven of the past 10 quarters.
Josh here – investors responded by yanking another $12.9 billion from stock mutual funds over the last three months. They just don’t believe in the managers anymore or the benefits of the product. Michael Santoli makes a similar argument here.
One thing worth mentioning – there probably shouldn’t be 8000 + of these funds anymore. Maybe with 4 or 6 thousand, the task of beating one’s benchmark and peers wouldn’t be so impossible. But who’s going to cry uncle and wind down? Nobody anytime soon.
Sources:
A Poor Stretch for Funds (Barron’s)
After Bill Gross drama, the era of star investors isn’t over – it’s just different (Yahoo Finance)
“@ReformedBroker: Meanwhile, a rolling debacle for stock mutual funds http://t.co/vr0B0egS7B”
Which 1? I got like 30 of em!
@ReformedBroker US stock mutual funds trail the S&P 500 by almost 300 basis points in Q3, lose $13 billion in assets
http://t.co/sN2vhB7K2E
Meanwhile, a rolling debacle for stock mutual funds by @ReformedBroker http://t.co/sLJpTPNtEf
Meanwhile, a rolling debacle for stock mutual funds by @ReformedBroker http://t.co/Dc1B3qseFG
RT @ReformedBroker: US stock mutual funds trail the S&P 500 by almost 300 basis points in Q3, lose another $13 billion in assets
http://t…
[…] Joshua Brown: Meanwhile, a Rolling Debacle For Stock Mutual Funds […]
S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t.co/4ppt1NiwLS
RT @InvestSensibly: S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t…
S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t.co/91sDZMdBCm
RT @InvestSensibly: S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t…
S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t.co/ldQSdCTX5i
S&P 500 #IndexFunds returned 0.99 in Q3. #ActiveFunds LOST 1.95%. This would be funny if it weren’t so serious http://t.co/X86MbyKYzC
Another shocking performance by actively-managed #MutualFunds in the US in Q3 @ReformedBroker http://t.co/IUT0tQkoyg
Another shocking performance by actively-managed #MutualFunds in the US in Q3 @ReformedBroker http://t.co/lYKXXb80rD
Another shocking performance by actively-managed #MutualFunds in the US in Q3 @ReformedBroker http://t.co/HqdyYkfCT6