Provided by Dow Jones
By Suzanne McGee In late March of last year, as the world started to deal with the pandemic lockdowns, the U.S. stock market had already hit reset. A year later, as investors closed the books for the first quarter of 2021, they are looking back on a market rebound that outdid even the post-financial-crisis recovery for both speed and magnitude. How did the professional stock pickers at mutual funds do? Overall, no better than an index fund. But the best of them blew away the field including a spectacular 273% gain for the No. 1 fund, the small-stock-focused Morgan Stanley Inception Portfolio (MSSGX).