JUSC : JP Morgan US Smaller Companies in line with a lacklustre market during H1
JP Morgan US Smaller Companies results, for the first half of 2014, report a fall in JUSC’s NAV of 0.4% versus a fall of 0.2% in the Russell 2000 (all in sterling terms). JUSC’s share price saw a sharper fall (8.1%) as the trust moved from trading at a modest premium to a discount of 4% during the period. Managed by Don San Jose (pictured) and Daniel Percella, JUSC’s portfolio benefitted from strong stock selection in financial services and producer durables during the first half of 2014. HFF and Zillow were the top performers within financial services, whilst Knight Transportation and Waste Connections were the top performers from producer durables. However, stock selection was not sufficient to overcome the negative impact of the trusts asset allocation. Key detractors where the trusts consumer discretionary and health care exposures. The strength of sterling has also had an impact on the trust reported returns (the Russell 2000 gained 3.2% during the period in US Dollar terms).