The real players in the weighting game

LEVEL THREE: REGULATION a) Fund managers Over the past half century the proportion of US shares held by institutional investors has risen from 7% to 50%. The dominant effect has been the spreading and maturing of pension funds, which have grown from virtually nothing to nearly a quarter of all US shares at present. While direct share ownership has increased in the US, it has not grown as fast as indirect ownership, where fund managers usually make the big decisions. Over the decade to 1998, when the NYSE last undertook a comprehensive survey, the number of direct shareholders grew mode...