Charles Hovenden: A largely untested panacea

The investment management industry has never been slow to spot an opportunity to create new product for sale. Alfred Winslow Jones may have been credited with forming the first hedge fund in 1949 but retail absolute return funds and the Investment Association (IA) Targeted Absolute Return sector were born out of the rubble of the 2007/09 financial crisis.  It is often said stockmarkets go up on escalators but down in elevators. In just 16 months between 31 October 2007 and 3 March 2009, the FTSE All-Share index (including gross dividends) dropped 45.6%, erasing all of the gains made sinc...