Tough Times for Stockpickers: Passive Index Funds Continue To Dominate

A recent report by Jefferies shows that passive investing strategies are attracting an even greater share of investor inflows as stock-picking strategies underperform. Jefferies equity strategist Steven DeSanctis and his team wrote in a report Thursday that assets in passive U.S. equity exchange-traded funds and mutual funds hit $16.3 trillion as of July 31. “The sad reality is that active is struggling again this year and so we will most likely see this trend to continue in 2027,” the Jefferies analysts wrote.