Tag Archives: Active vs. Passive
Cashing in the Chips?
The rally in U.S. equities continued in May, with the S&P 500® posting 11 all-time closing highs during the month. A key catalyst for the market’s upward march has been optimism surrounding companies benefiting from the boom in AI. The beneficiaries of the investment in AI are no longer just the mega-cap hyperscalers, but the…
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
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The Search for Elusive Outperforming Active Funds in Japan
As readers of our SPIVA® Scorecards know, beating the market is difficult. Finding those few managers capable of doing so consistently may be even harder. Of the 933 active equity funds domiciled in Japan, more than 80% underperformed their respective benchmarks in 2025.1 Yet even among the minority that did outperform, the bigger question remains:…
- Categories Equities
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- Equities
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Measuring the Managers
The measurement of active manager performance versus benchmarks is not new. The earliest study dates back to more than 90 years ago, when Alfred Cowles found that “statistical tests of the best individual records failed to demonstrate that they exhibited skill, and indicated that they more probably were results of chance.”1 Forty years later, by…
- Categories S&P 500 & DJIA
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- S&P 500 & DJIA
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Latin Markets: Still Dancing to the Same Beat
Just as Latin American musicians dominated global charts in 2025, the region’s equities delivered quite the performance last year. While markets navigated shifting interest rates and economic transitions, Latin America stood out as a top-performing region worldwide. The S&P Latin America BMI hit a high note, surging by 53.8% for the year, outperforming the S&P…
- Categories Equities
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SPIVA Special Report: Heroes in Haystacks
Can Hero Funds save portfolios? S&P DJI’s Joe Nelesen takes a closer look at our special SPIVA report examining the performance of multi-asset portfolios of funds versus weighted blends of indices.
- Categories Equities, Fixed Income
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- Equities, Fixed Income
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2025: A Market for Stock Pickers in France?
Despite a strong year for global equities in 2025, most active funds in Europe struggled to outperform their benchmarks. According to the latest SPIVA® Europe Year-End 2025 Scorecard, 81.8% of active equity funds lagged their benchmarks over the past year, rising to 97.0% over the 10-year period.1 The France Equity fund category offered a notable…
- Categories Equities
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- Equities
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One to Forget: SPIVA Europe U.K. Equity Active Fund Performance in 2025
2025 was full of memorable moments, from tariff tensions and continued AI advancement, to pop stars in space and billionaire weddings. For U.K. active equity funds, however, 2025 may well be a year to forget. Across the three relevant categories measured in the SPIVA Europe Year-End 2025 Scorecard (U.K. Equity, U.K. Large-/Mid-Cap Equity and U.K….
- Categories Equities
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What Do the SPIVA Australia Results Imply for Active Portfolio Construction?
Our latest SPIVA® Australia Scorecard underscored the challenges that Australian active funds faced in converting a favorable stock-picking environment into meaningful results in 2025. Among the 831 active equity funds domiciled in Australia that we examined—spanning global equity, domestic equity and REITs—over two-thirds (570 funds) underperformed their category benchmarks. In contrast, active Australian bond funds…
- Categories Equities, Fixed Income
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The Takaichi Trade: How Dispersion Shaped Japanese Active Funds’ Fortunes
Amid a strong year for global equities in 2025, the latest SPIVA® Japan Scorecard showed that most active funds in Japan struggled to outperform their assigned benchmarks. An interesting finding in the report was the striking difference in relative performance between actively managed Japanese Large-Cap funds and Japanese Mid-/Small-Cap funds. Just 49% of Japanese Large-Cap…
- Categories Equities
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Why Do U.S. Equities and the S&P 500 Matter in South Korea?
S&P DJI’s Sue Lee examines the importance of the S&P 500 in the global equity opportunity set, key diversification and sector composition differences between notable U.S. equity and Korean benchmarks and the challenges faced by active managers in the U.S. and South Korea to outperform this iconic index.
- Categories Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
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- Equities, S&P 500 & DJIA
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