"One of the questions posed to us by advisers most often since the market turmoil began two years ago has been 'why can't portfolio managers go to cash?' during a period of extreme volatility," said Keith Hartstein, president and CEO of John Hancock Funds. "The response, in most cases, is that mutual fund managers are mandated to remain invested in their particular style, and not to be on the sidelines in cash."
The fund's three-member management team uses technical signals such as crossing moving averages, price gaps, volume changes and relative strength to select stocks, but does not employ a quantitative approach, nor a "black box" investment model.
"We are pleased to now have the ability to provide our advisers and their clients with the institutional-quality approach employed by Wellington Management, which has been managing technical equity portfolios for 17 years," Hartstein said.
