Spotlight on: The 134-year old JPM American trust

The £930m J.P. Morgan American investment trust has been run by New York-based Garrett Fish (pictured) and Eytan Shapiro for over a decade.

During that period, it has outperformed the S&P 500, returning 214% against a 168% return from both the S&P 500 and the average trust in the AIC North America sector. The JPM trust invests mainly in large-cap US equities, using small-cap exposure to diversify its risk.  The 134-year-old portfolio takes full advantage of its closed-ended structure, which enables the manager to gear the portfolio. Gearing typically ranges between -5% to 20%, and Fish attributes some of his outperformance to use of the tool.  "I do not want to give the impression that we time the markets, but you have...