Active funds are finding themselves in a better position than ever. Outflows are at their lowest levels in over half a decade, inflows are starting to swell, so what is the key to their success? The predominant factor driving them is the wide range of dispersion in the stock market’s performance. Sure, the aggregate performance has been great post-pandemic but the difference between the bottom and top quintiles has been above average for the last year. This gives pickers an advantage over passive funds. They are making their picks by not overreacting to inflation news and doubling down on stocks that benefit from stay-at-home orders and the covid environment. Active funds tend to downplay value-oriented stocks, and the few they are bullish on are bargains in communications companies. Finally, Facebook is the through-line, as nearly two-thirds of active funds hold the largest social network.

FINSUM: This is definitely a ‘pickem’ environment with large dispersion in the S&P 500, and broad index/passive funds will lag active managers.