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.
The United States now accounts for about 62 per cent of world stock market value. The last market this dominant was Britain in 1900, not America — and Britain's owners were rewarded through a century of decline, while Japan's were made to wait 34 years to break even. The difference was not size but the price paid at the peak. A look at what the long-run evidence says about US stock market dominance, and what it means for a globally diversified investor.
Robin Powell
Jun 138 min read
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