Fund performance

Even momentum, which has made money in eight of the last 10 years, has plunged in 2019.

Nearly all posted losses over the last year.

These double-digit returns came at a price lower than the rest of the sector.

Advisors have a dizzying number of ways to answer. Over a five-year period. Over 30 years. Compared to a certain sample portfolio. Which should you choose?

The mutual funds and ETFs that ranked at the bottom of the sector still benefited from a “long-running bull market,” an expert says.

The Invesco QQQ Trust dropped as much as 0.6% after Google’s parent company reported first-quarter sales below Wall Street estimates.

One theory for underperformance has been the long steady gains in markets since the financial crisis.

Expense ratios were more than twice the industry average.

CEO Ronald O’Hanley says the poor performance reflects both the industry’s “continued challenging conditions,” as well as “lower client activity.”

The firm, along with the broader asset management industry, is focused on ways to expand its global reach amid mounting pressure for growth.

The products have benefited from the past decade of “economic expansion and bull market for risk assets,” one expert says.

The last time SPY saw inflows of this magnitude U.S. stocks were on the cusp of a bear market in late 2018.

The asset manager’s share price fell 24% in 2018 while institutions have pulled money from its investment products for three straight quarters.

Nick Maroutsos’ vision for JUCTX, which lost over half of its assets when the ex-bond king pulled out, is far different from the unconstrained strategy.

The average expense ratio among the top-performers is 40 basis points higher than the average.

Hedge funds are under pressure to justify their fees as bond indexes extend gains.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

“Just like equities, last year was a volatile year and the fourth quarter of 2018 did a number on the returns of risk assets,” an expert says.

Despite the weakest one-year performance, these funds had double-digit annualized returns the past three years.

Home to more than $249 billion, these funds have expense ratios more than 20 basis points higher than the industry average.