Active managers do not take Trump's assists
Even for asset management professionals it is difficult to interpret the tycoon's moves
2' min read
2' min read
An environment of high volatility in financial markets such as the current one, coupled with falling correlations and increasing dispersion of returns across asset classes, should create opportunities for active managers. Market fluctuations are the lifeblood for them to generate added value by effectively selecting and buying and selling securities to be included in mutual fund portfolios with the right timing. And with the advent of Donald Trump's second presidential term, there has been no shortage of opportunities over the past nine months in the wake of the tycoon's spins.
The US President's contradictory statements on geopolitics and trade are now a daily source of tension, uncertainty and volatility for financial markets. Nevertheless, the ability of active managers to seize opportunities to generate extra returns is struggling to emerge.
From the close of the markets on 4 November 2024 (the evening before the outcome of the US presidential election was known) to the figure of 4 August, only a limited number of equity fund managers sold in Italy have outperformed the markets in which they invest: a percentage of just 5%. According to calculations made by Plus24 based on Morningstar data, there are exactly 143 equity mutual funds, out of the approximately 2,900 offered to Italian savers, that have done better than the ETFs offering passive replication of the various reference markets over the time period considered.
There are numerous product categories where no manager outperformed the cheapest ETFs: Global, Europe and Us Equity Income; Global Large Cap, Blend and Value; Eurozone Flex, Large and Mid Cap; Us Small and Large Cap Value; Latin America; Pacific; China Equity and all the funds specialising in the various sectors, to name but the most crowded categories, where all managers (100%) lost the challenge to the Etf. Only in the Global Small/Mid-Cap Equity category were managers able to add significant value, with 74% (29 out of 39) of the funds beating the Etff ranked by Morningstar in the same equity category.
The music does not change on the bond front, with a somewhat higher percentage of managers, amounting to 9% (209 funds out of 2,320), beating the benchmark over the past nine months, exclusively considering the bond categories where there is at least one ETF listed on Piazza Affari.
