The Market Barometer remains normal. US equity markets moved slightly higher in December with the S&P 500 posting a 1.0% gain while the international MSCI EAFE Index lost -0.9%. Average US active equity fund returns posted a -0.3% loss while international active equity funds underperformed the index and lost -2.3% during December. US Active managers underperformed by 5.0% while international active managers underperformed by 0.9% during 2011.

Opportunity was the best performing one month strategy while Quantitative, which was flat for the year, was the best performing strategy in domestic equity markets. Profitability was both the best one month and total year strategy in international markets in 2011, with a full-year return of -5.8% versus the index return of -12.1%.

Download the full report: Athena Perspectives – January 2012