Global markets declined sharply in September as the financial crisis continued to unfold, starting with the US government stepping in to assist Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and followed by the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch, the US government rescue of insurer AIG and the bailout of Wachovia.The markets rallied at the end of the month as the US government announced a $700 billion financial rescue plan which would see banks' toxic assets pass to government ownership, but then fell heavily after the initial draft legislation was rejected by the US Congress.September was a difficult month for the fund as it underperformed the benchmark and its peer group as both stock and sector selection were negative, with stock selection dominating. At a sector level, the fund's overweight exposure to financials was the largest negative contributor to performance. At a stock level, the underweight positions in Apple and Research In Motion helped relative performance.Within the model perspective, research & development intensity (the impact of current research & development spending on future earnings) was the best performing factor, although this was offset by poor returns to the valuation (the extent to which current share prices reflect future earnings expectations) and management hubris (the tendency of highly acquisitive companies to underperform over the longer term).Changes to sector positioning included a reduction in the exposure to health care from slightly overweight to flat, funding an increase of the weighting in utilities position from flat to slightly overweight.
