After years of lagging behind index funds, active managers have long stressed that they would show their worth when volatility hit. Now it has, as the coronavirus has roiled markets.

It is still too early for anyone to say “I told you so”, but a quantitative study of investors’ behaviour during the first half of this year by the financial research firm Dalbar may give defenders of active management some ammunition. Women fund managers appear to have gained some bragging rights as well, Goldman Sachs research indicates.