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To: sam who wrote (717)	1/1/1999 1:28:00 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

My point was that if the index has a bad year -- so does the manager running a fund based on the index. And that these guys and gals will go to serious lengths to make sure the indexes DON'T have bad years. Sam, I don't want to beat this to death, but I guess I am missing your point. To me, an Index fund can't have a good or bad year. The market can have a good or bad year, and the Index fund just reflects that. That's it job. If you are saying that the fund managers manipulate the market to make the Index go up, I don't think they can. Once they buy the correct Index, they have to keep buying the same way to keep the numbers the same. They might play some minor games: timing when they buy and sell during the day or week to make themselves an extra buck, but mainly, as I see it, they are neutral buyer, doing the job of providing an Index fund for the Mutual Fund company they work for. Boooring!

To: sam who wrote (717)	1/1/1999 5:54:00 PM
From: 1SFG	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 41369

<My point was that if the index has a bad year -- so does the manager running a fund based on the index. And that these guys and gals will go to serious lengths to make sure the indexes DON'T have bad years.> I am at a loss to understand what you are saying? Where is the management or control if all you do is sell a delisted stock and buy a newly listed stock. Do they have some flexibility to vary the % of the portfolio that an individual stock holds? I didn't think so, but unless that were true there are NO "serious lengths" they could possibly go to in an effort to have a high flying index. An investor goes into this type of fund knowing exactly what he is getting and I doubt there are any type of retributions if the fund tanks, which means the S&P tanked.