Closed-End Fund Expenses and Investment Selection

Investment returns on closed‐end funds are highly volatile. Because expenses have a definite negative impact on closed‐end fund returns, investors should include the expense ratio as a criterion for fund selection in addition to performance, investment objective, and risk of the fund. This paper constructs a model of the expense ratio of closed‐end funds to explain cross‐sectional differences in the expense ratios for the period between 1989–1996. We relate closed‐end fund expenses to fund characteristics and identify the factors that can help investors choose low expense closed‐end funds.     

The Market Timing Ability of UK Mutual Funds

Abstract:  We apply a recent nonparametric methodology to test the market timing skills of UK equity and balanced mutual funds. The methodology has a number of advantages over the widely used regression based tests of Treynor-Mazuy (1966) and Henriksson-Merton (1981) . We find a relatively small number of funds (around 1%) demonstrate positive market timing ability at a 5% significance level while around 19% of funds exhibit negative timing and on average funds miss-time the market. However, controlling for publicly available information we find very little evidence of market timing ability based on private timing signals. In terms of investment styles, there are a small number of successful positive market timers amongst Equity Income and 'All Company' funds but not among either Small Stock funds or Balanced funds, although a few small stock funds are found to time a small stock index rather than a broad market index.     

International Equity Asset Classes in the Turkish Fund Industry

We examine Turkish fund portfolios and identify the role of international investments in their formation. We find that (1) Turkish funds hold a very small fraction of international assets during 1987-2008, (2) the weight of international equity in the funds with an international mandate is smaller than the total weight of domestic asset classes as of 2009, and (3) international stock holdings of Turkish portfolio managers show significant similarity, which can be explained by the fact that the managers tend to hold stocks with which they are familiar. We compare the performance of funds that have the international investment objective with benchmark portfolios and provide suggestions for more diverse funds in the Turkish fund industry.     

Socially responsible investment fund performance: the impact of screening intensity

Perhaps the most common criticism of socially responsible investment funds is that imposing non‐financial screens restricts investment opportunities, reduces diversification efficiencies and thereby adversely impacts performance. In this study we investigate this proposition and test whether the number of screens employed has a linear or curvilinear relation with return. Moreover, we analyse the link between screening intensity and risk. Screening intensity has no effect on unadjusted (raw) returns or idiosyncratic risk. However, we find a significant reduction in α of 70 basis points per screen using the Carhart performance model. Increased screening results in lower systematic risk – in line with managers choosing lower β stocks to minimize overall risk.     

Performance of Foreign and Global Mutual Funds: The Role of Security Selection,Region‐Shifting,and Style‐Shifting Abilities

We examine the performance of U.S.‐based foreign and global funds after controlling for their regional and style exposure. We show that, on average, the total performance (TP) and security selection abilities of both foreign and global funds are significantly negative and exhibit short‐term predictability. Additionally, R² reflects funds’ security selection abilities, consistent with previous findings for domestic mutual funds. Investors can earn higher abnormal returns and TP in the short run by purchasing past winners with low R² than by purchasing past losers with high R². However, there is no evidence of predictability in the funds' region‐shifting and style‐shifting abilities.     

Capturing hedge fund risk factor exposures: Hedge fund return replication with ETFs

We develop a new factor selection methodology of spanning the space of hedge fund risk factors with all available exchange traded funds (ETFs). We demonstrate the efficacy of the methodology with out-of-sample individual hedge fund return replication by ETF clone portfolios. This is consistent with our interpretation of ETF returns as proxies to risk factors driving hedge fund returns. We further consider portfolios of “cloneable” and “noncloneable” hedge funds, defined as top and bottom in-sample R² matches, and demonstrate that our ETF clone portfolios slightly outperform cloneable hedge funds out of sample.     

The performance of enhanced-return index funds: evidence from bootstrap analysis

We apply the bootstrap technique proposed by Kosowski et al. [J. Finance, 2006, 61, 2551–2595] in conjunction with Carhart's [J. Finance, 1997, 52, 57–82] unconditional and Ferson and Schadt's [J. Finance, 1996, 51, 425–461] conditional four-factor models of performance to examine whether the performances of enhanced-return index funds over the 1996 to 2007 period are based on luck or superior ‘enhancing’ skills. The advantages of using the bootstrap to rank fund performance are many. It eliminates the need to specify the exact shape of the distribution from which returns are drawn and does not require estimating correlations between portfolio returns. It also eliminates the need to explicitly control for potential ‘data snooping’ biases that arise from an ex-post sort. Our results show evidence of enhanced-return index funds with positive and significant alphas after controlling for luck and sampling variability. The results are robust to both stock-only and derivative-enhanced index funds, although the spread of cross-sectional alphas for derivative-enhanced funds is slightly more pronounced. The study also examines various sub-periods within the sample horizon.     

Herding in the German Mutual Fund Industry

This paper analyses the trading activity of German mutual funds in the 1998–2002 period to investigate whether German mutual fund managers are engaged in herding behaviour. Another objective of the study is to determine the impact of this herd‐like trading on stock prices. Our results provide evidence of herding and positive feedback trading by German mutual fund managers. We show that a significant portion of herding detected in the German market is associated with spurious herding as a consequence of changes in benchmark index composition. Investigating the impact of mutual fund herding on stock prices, we find that herding seems to neither destabilise nor stabilise stock prices.     

克隆明星基金的收益与风险分析

本文在认可公募基金经理具有选股能力的基础上，对绩优的明星基金季报披露的重仓股按业绩筛选出股票，建立组合投资，对2005年二季度至2006年四季度期间的持有收益和风险进行验证。结论表明，在我国证券市场上克隆基金是一种可以给投资者带来较大收益的行之有效的战略手段。同时，本文认为，由此揭示出来的投资基金公开信息披露制度问题值得深入探讨。     

Style chasing by hedge fund investors

This paper examines whether investors chase hedge fund investment styles. We find that better-performing and more popular styles are rewarded with higher inflows in subsequent periods. This indicates that investors compare hedge fund styles in terms of recent performance and popularity, and they subsequently reallocate funds from less successful to more successful styles. Furthermore, we find evidence of competition between individual hedge funds of the same style. Funds outperforming the other funds in their styles and funds whose inflows exceed the average flows in their styles experience higher inflows in subsequent periods. One of the reasons for competition among same-style funds is investors’ search for the best managers. The high minimum investment required to invest in a hedge fund limits investors’ diversification opportunities and makes this search particularly important. Finally, we show that hedge fund investors’ implementation of style chasing in combination with intra-style fund selection represents a smart strategy.     

Performance implications of active management of institutional mutual funds

We use information on institutional US mutual funds to examine the performance implications of the decisions they make when actively implementing their investment processes. Our findings show that the success of active fund managers' stock selection decisions is influenced both by the aggressiveness with which they implement their processes and also the style tilts incorporated into their active positions. Our findings provide useful insights into both where one might best look when choosing an active manager and also suggest possible profitable investment strategies.     

The Performance of Local versus Foreign Mutual Fund Managers

In this paper we examine the performance of US equity funds (locals) versus UK equity funds (foreigners) also investing in the US equity market. Based on informational disadvantages one would expect the UK funds to under‐perform the US funds, especially in the research‐intensive small company market. After controlling for tax treatment, fund objectives, investment style and time‐variation in betas, we do not find evidence for this. In the small company segment we even find a slight out‐performance for UK funds compared to US funds. Finally we observe a home bias in the UK portfolios, which is partly attributable to UK funds investing in cross‐listed stocks in the USA.     

The investment behavior of buyout funds: Theory and evidence

We analyze the determinants of buyout funds’ investment decisions. We argue that when there is imperfect competition for private equity funds, the timing of funds’ investment decisions, their risk-taking behavior, and their subsequent returns depend on changes in the demand for private equity, conditions in the credit market, and fund managers’ ability to influence perceptions of their talent. We investigate these hypotheses using a proprietary dataset of 207 U.S. buyout funds that invested in 1,957 buyout targets over a 30-year period. Our dataset contains precisely dated cash inflows and outflows in every portfolio company, links every buyout target to an identifiable buyout fund, and is free from reporting and survivor biases. Thus, we are able to characterize every buyout fund's precise investment choices. Our findings are as follows. First, established funds accelerate their investment flows and earn higher returns when investment opportunities improve, competition for deal flow eases, and credit market conditions loosen. Second, the investment behavior of first-time funds is less sensitive to market conditions. Third, younger funds invest in riskier buyouts, in an effort to establish a track record. Finally, following periods of good performance, funds become more conservative, and this effect is stronger for first-time funds.     

从2000年基金年报信息追溯基金研究中心的三个问题

本文从三个方面对2000年基金年报信息进行了剖析。第一，从多角度对33只证券投资基金进行分类的结果表明，最能体现基金业绩与投资风格差异度的分类方法不是基金的投资目标而是基金管理公司。基金管理公司内部的资源共享是造成这一现象的原因。第二，指数型基金在2000年的表现尚不尽人意，投资理念亦不清晰。第三，保险公司选择基金的标准相当理性，注重基金的分红市价比、夏普指数、资产净值收益率几项指标，其选择的正确性亦得到2000年基金业绩的证实。     

The Performance of Hedge Fund Strategies and the Asymmetry of Return Distributions

We present hedge fund performance estimates that adjust for stale prices, Fama‐French risk factors and skewness. We contrast these new performance estimates with traditional performance measures. Using three‐factor models to adjust for staleness in prices and to incorporate Fama‐French factors along with the Harvey‐Siddique (2000) two‐factor model that incorporates skewness, we find that for the period 1990–2003, all hedge fund categories achieve above average performance when measured against an aggregate market index. More significantly, however, when we estimate performance at the individual hedge fund level, we discover that only 40 to 47% of the funds are shown to achieve an above average performance over that time period depending on the model used. These results have important implications for investors, endowments and pensions when they choose hedge fund managers.     

私有信息优势还是投研分析能力?——绩优基金与绩劣基金信息挖掘行为比较分析

基于开放型股票投资基金的重仓股数据,本文分析绩优基金与绩劣基金的信息挖掘行为有何异同,以判断基金绩效是否来自于其信息分析能力。研究发现,绩优基金交易行为的信息挖掘特征更为显著,而绩劣基金则未表现出信息挖掘行为。而且,实证分析发现,绩优基金更高的信息挖掘水平并非取决于信息获取优势,二者网络中心度并无显著差异。但是,择时择股等能力的显著差异意味着绩优基金相对较高的信息挖掘水平来源于其更优的投研能力。此外,绩优基金的信息挖掘行为随着市场环境变化而调整。     

Leveraged investor disclosures and concentrations of risk

We analyze a model where investors (e.g., hedge funds) need to borrow from lenders with heterogeneous risk-exposures and risk-management motives. Investors may obtain advantageous terms of borrowing by disclosing their investment strategy, thereby revealing its correlation to the lender's existing risk exposure. Investors risk being “front-run” by their lender if they disclose, however. We show that in the presence of front-running, the “unraveling” result of full disclosure may not hold. In addition, disclosure regulation results in a loss of welfare since investors compelled to disclose will mitigate front-running by choosing a lender with sufficiently high correlation, thus exacerbating concentrations of risk.     

The information content of portfolio performance history and persistence in fund performance: An examination of rollover funds

This paper examines the relation between past and future performance and explores the optimal past performance information set for a subset of Australian investment funds, namely, rollover funds. Four categories of funds are examined: fixed interest; multi-sector yield; multi-sector balanced; and multi-sector growth. This study extends the performance persistence literature through the use of three methodologies (1) regression analysis;(2) non-parametric contingency tables; and (3) top (and bottom) quartile rankings to explore the information content of fund performance history for groups of funds differentiated by investment objective. The results of the regression analysis suggest that there is evidence in support of persistence in performance for the fixed interest funds (particularly when performance is measured in terms of Jensen Alpha) but much more ambiguous evidence in relation to the multi-sector funds. Contingency table analysis of fund performance histories of varying lengths reveals quite different results depending upon whether raw or risk-adjusted returns are used. Use of raw returns creates an overall impression of performance reversals, whereas use of risk-adjusted returns suggests the existence of performance persistence. Finally, the use of prior period top-quartile and bottom-quartile ranking are found to show strong evidence of persistence in respect to the risk-adjusted performance of fixed-interest funds.     

Hedge Fund Indices: Reconciling Investability and Representativity

Following a growing concern among investors about the quality of hedge fund index return data, this paper addresses the question of whether designing hedge fund indices that fulfil the usual requirements (in particular representative and investable) is or not a feasible task, given a variety of features that are specific to that industry. To test whether or not investability should necessarily come at the cost of representativity, we use a well‐known methodology in the asset pricing literature based on the concept of factor replicating portfolios. Our results suggest that it is actually possible to construct representative indices based on a limited number of funds that are open to new investments, except perhaps in the case of equity market neutral strategies, provided that: i) these funds are suitably selected and ii) a portfolio is constructed with the objective of replicating the common trend in hedge fund returns for a given strategy. A range of robustness tests are performed that show that high correlation of the factor replicating portfolios with the common factor of returns for each strategy is remarkably stable with respect to modifying the number of funds in the replicating portfolio or changing the frequency of rebalancing.     

Pricing of national index funds

This article investigates the pricing behavior of national index funds (NIFs). Under barriers to capital flows in an otherwise perfect capital market, the familiar result of zero premium/discount obtains. The more realistic assumption of imperfect cross-border arbitrage suggests that in a two country setting the NIFs will sell at a premium. In a multicountry framework, the investment barriers will result in NIFs generally trading at a premium, although theoretically one cannot rule out a discount from net asset value (NAV). A simple test supports the proposition that under investment barriers, NIFs should trade at a premium to NAV after controlling for the average domestic closed-end fund discount.