Over a 12-month-rolling period (i.e. in 2018), only 23% of Europe managers and 25% of US managers as well as 21% of emerging markets managers outperformed their benchmarks net of fees. The underperformance of small caps in a declining market did hurt most managers in 2018 as a majority had an overweight in this market cap cluster.
In December, the performance of active managers in all regions was also behind benchmark. Only 30% of Europe managers and 37% of emerging market managers outperformed their respective indices net of fees. The picture in the US was somewhat better; 47% of the managers could beat their indices net of fees. In December, large caps continued to outperform small caps and once again contributed to a weak performance of active managers. Sector-wise, utilities showed a very good performance in a difficult environment. The fact that most managers had an underweight in this sector also added to the poor results.
Please find the full fundinfo Research News – January 2019 edition including a summary of manager meetings attached on the left.