Performance of Marquette's AIM International Equity Fund

How is the AIM International Equity Fund Doing? Just Fine.

 

Previously we reported on the recent performance of Marquette's student-managed Small Cap Equity Fund. This article focuses on the other equity fund - the Marquette International Equity Fund.

Managing a non-US portfolio of equity securities is challenging for any asset manager. Imagine being 21 years old and expected to manage a $600,000 portfolio? Well, that’s what students in Marquette’s Applied Investment Management (AIM) program have been doing since September 2008.

What is significant about September 2008? It was literally the point where the bottom fell out of the US and international financial markets. The stock market crash of 2008 occurred on September 29, 2008, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 778 points in intra-day trading – which was the largest point drop in history. (It plummeted because Congress rejected the bank bailout bill, but the stresses that led to the crash had been building for a long time).  

Provided with $500,000 to manage on September 20^th, the AIM students sawnearly a 40% decline in value of the international portfolio before they even knew what hitthem! 

Overall, the experience of managing an international stock portfolio has been a meaningful experience for Marquette's AIM students – and the returns have rebounded and continue on pace to beat various benchmarks (see the table below). In an upcoming blog we will provide readers with the current holdings in the portfolio.