The managers running the biggest active funds picked stocks that beat the market in 2025 — and most still lagged their benchmark. A Morningstar do-nothing experiment and a body of academic research explain why active funds underperform even when the picking is good: skilled buying undone by poor selling, the hidden cost of trading, and the incentives that keep managers churning. The UK evidence points the same way.
Most investors assume prices are moved by information: earnings, interest rates, news. A peer-reviewed study of 37 years of Nasdaq data suggests something stranger. The poor returns of speculative 'lottery-like' stocks are concentrated after sunny weather in the cities where the firms are based — and largely vanish after cloudy spells. The finding says less about forecasts than about how quietly mood reaches our decisions, and why rules-based investing exists.
Robin Powell
1 day ago6 min read
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