Cautious Managed figures show protection gap

Returns reveal many funds in the Cautious Managed sector have shown little resilience to the carnage resulting from the stock market collapse

While investors may think a Cautious Managed fund ought to protect them to a degree from the carnage of a stock market collapse, one look at the performance figures tells you this is hardly the case. The Brunel Distribution portfolio has returned a depressingly negative return of -41.1% for the year to 12 January 2009, whereas New Star Managed Distribution fund fared only slightly better at -31.4%. Both of these were against a sector average of -15%. By comparison, the fund at the top of the list, Ruffer Total Return, has produced the only double-digit positive return (19.2%), during...