Cash helping US fund managers, even as they look to spend it

New York

STOCK mutual fund managers who tucked extra cash under their mattresses this year have fared well: Protected from the worst of the recent selloff, they have generally outperformed their competitors and now, with shares near 2015 lows, are readying a new round of buying.

Managers such as Sean Gavin of the US$437 million Fidelity Blue Chip Value Fund, who recently held 9 per cent of his portfolio in cash, and Robert Bacarella of the Monetta Fund, with 6 per cent in cash, are pulling out shopping lists full of consumer companies and other beaten-down names.