Your assumption here is that skill matters more in less liquid asset classes, so it should be
easier for active managers to beat their indexes.
Do you think that in and of itself — more people going to passive strategies — could open up more
potential for active managers and more anomalies?
In
order for active managers to have a reasonable chance of beating the market, they have to have portfolios that are significantly different than the market.
As for active managers, they often buy and sell to make it look like they are doing something for clients, when frequently less activity would be in the best interests of clients.
Large - cap equity is an asset class that is typically considered to be highly efficient and has historically been
difficult for active managers to outperform.
There is only one
way for an active manager to beat the inflation - protected indexes: making correct calls on future inflation.
Other things equal, however, lower correlation is
better for active managers than higher correlation — especially for a strategy with rapid turnover.
The active management edge is found furthest from the benchmark The key for advisers is weeding through the expansive universe, which starts with looking
for active managers who are not simply hugging the benchmark in an overly cautious effort to not get beat by it.
What is true for the Dividend Aristocrats is equally true for other strategy indices and emphatically also
true for active managers.
Normally, these conditions might be considered
ideal for active managers to perform well, but they actually underperformed in most categories analyzed in the SPIVA Europe Mid-Year 2016 report.
And matters weren't helped much as volatility hovered close to the lowest levels on record, sapping the market of the price swings so
crucial for active managers to prove their bonafides.
Since «the market» consists of all investors, and active managers are a big percentage of all investors, it's common sense that the average
return for all active managers will be the market return less the average costs of active management.
This morning's Wall Street Journal reports that the contrary view — that low levels of stock market dispersion would make 2014 an especially difficult
year for active managers — has been vindicated.
It may take time for Vanguard's index - tracking funds to catch on in China, but he predicted that the appeal of passive investing will grow as the country's markets become more efficient — and thus
tougher for active managers to outperform.
Some pros think a bear market will bring about renewed
love for active managers because that's where they can prove their worth, by moving assets around instead of only mimicking a losing index.
While volatility created by ETFs might be painful over the short - term through intra-day trading anomalies, it may also create idiosyncratic valuation
distortions for active managers to capture.
John Rekenthaler talking about the narrowing spread between the best and worst fund managers still sees some opportunity
for active managers under certain circumstances:
Today's Financial Times offered a prominent active manager a chance to argue that such «closet benchmarking» was the
reason for active managers» underperformance.
While we think there is an important
role for active managers, we noted in this column last month that investors continue to overpay by at least $ 70 billion per year.
While the outflows will be
painful for active managers, the survivors will to find it easier to find opportunities in the stocks that are underindexed.
Cerulli's report, «U.S. Products and Strategies 2016: Identifying Opportunities for Active Management,» examines
strategies for active managers; trends in mutual fund share classes and pricing; exchange - traded funds; strategic beta; environmental, social and governance (ESG) and socially responsible investing (SRI); financial advisers» product preferences; the institutional and retail product landscapes; and innovations in target - date funds.