Active Managers Lag S&P Indices in 2006

Over longer time periods, Standard & Poor’s continues to see indices outperforming a majority of active funds, the company said in a news release about its latest Standard & Poor’s Indices Versus Active Funds Scorecard (SPIVA) results. Over the past five years and three years, the S&P 500 has beaten 64.9% (67.4% over five years) of large-cap funds, the S&P MidCap 400 has outperformed 80.5% (83.7% over five years) of mid-cap funds, and the S&P SmallCap 600 has outperformed 80.2% (79.2% over five years) of small-cap funds.

Year to date, the S&P 500 has outperformed 58.2% of large-cap funds, the S&P MidCap 600 has outperformed 61.3% of mid-cap funds and the S&P SmallCap 600 has outperformed 68.1% of small-cap funds.

“Active managers are having a difficult time in this year’s volatile market,” Rosanne Pane, Mutual Fund Strategist at Standard & Poor’s, said in the news release. “However, funds that have maintained overweight positions in energy, telecommunication services and REITs have performed well and have led returns. Also, domestic funds investing in foreign companies have benefited from international markets outperforming the US market.”

According to the news release, SPIVA reports on the performance of international funds versus their relative international S&P benchmark. For the first half of 2006, the SPIVA scorecard shows that indices outperformed actively managed funds. The S&P/Citigroup PMI outperformed 59.7% of global equity funds, the S&P/Citigroup PMI World ex U.S. outpaced 62.5% of international funds, the S&P/Citigroup EMI World Ex U.S. outperformed 63.3% of international small-cap funds and the S&P/IFCI Composite bested 80.9% of emerging market equity funds. Similar to domestic equities, international indices outperformed actively managed funds over a three- and five-year basis.

Year-to-date through June, domestic taxable fixed income indices have outperformed actively managed funds in six of eight categories, S&P said. Only long-term government and short-term general funds have outperformed their respective index.  Indices outperformed the three global sectors, with percentages ranging from 57.1% to 91.2%. Over the long term, indices outperformed actively managed funds in six of 11 styles over the past three years and 10 of 11 styles over the past five years.

The complete second quarter SPIVA scorecard and previous quarterly SPIVA reports are available on www.spiva.standardandpoors.com .