“Farewell, Mutual Funds,” by John Rekenthaler, Morningstar.com, Jan. 21, 2021.
Transcript
Jeff Ptak: Hi, and welcome to The Long View. I m Jeff Ptak, chief ratings officer for Morningstar Research Services.
Christine Benz: And I m Christine Benz, director of personal finance for Morningstar.
Ptak: Our guest today is Russ Kinnel. Russ is director of manager research for Morningstar Research Services and the longtime editor of the
Morningstar FundInvestor newsletter. As part of his duties, Russ chairs the North America ratings committee that oversees and approves the analyst ratings that Morningstar s manager research analysts assign to the funds they cover. A mainstay of our research efforts for years, Russ has authored a number of well-known and widely cited studies, including the annual “Mind the Gap” study of investor returns and is frequently quoted in the financial media. Russ is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, from which he received his bac
Editor’s note:Read the latest on how the coronavirus is rattling the markets and what investors can do to navigate it.
U.S. equity markets kept climbing in 2020’s fourth quarter, making for a strong close to a crazy year. The passage of a second coronavirus relief bill and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines strengthened expectations in a swift bounceback from the pandemic, boosting the S&P 500 index to 33 all-time highs. It ended the year at a record 3,756, up 12.2% in the final quarter and nearly 20% for the year. From the index’s March low, it gained 65.2%. Growth funds across the market-cap spectrum posted the biggest gains, while value continued to underperform.