Financial holding company BNY Mellon, the world's largest custodian bank and asset servicing firm with $2 trillion in assets under management, says the recent performance of the BNY Mellon Opportunistic Small Cap Fund, one of its exchange-traded funds or ETFs, has been significantly affected by not investing more in companies with exposure to cryptos, according to SEC filings.
In particular, the fund, which is focused on investing in small-cap stocks, saw a 35% increase between Sept. 1, 2020, and Feb. 28, 2021, while its benchmark, the Russell 2000 Index, rose 41.7% during this period.
According to the bank:
"Fund performance was hurt as well by a decision not to own MicroStrategy, whose stock surged when it announced it had invested in Bitcoin."
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In addition, the company also claims the fund's position in gold mining company Alamos Gold "hampered performance as shares were hurt by weak gold prices."