Absolute returns elude all but 2.5% of equity funds

Only 92 open-ended funds managed to produce positive returns in each of the three discrete years up to March 2002. This equates to just 5% of the 2,000 funds available in the market, according to Lipper statistics. Some 40 of these funds fell into bond and cash fund sectors, leaving just 2.5% of pure equity funds delivering positive returns during all three periods. Robert Burdett, joint head of multi-manager services at Credit Suisse Asset Management, said that given the fact many sectors delivered negative returns for two out of the three discrete years, the low percentage of funds ...