Tuesday's Wall Street Journal Fund Track column by Sam Mamudi injects a dose of optimism in an environment of declining returns and record withdrawals. Mamudi points out that although Credit Suisse last week slashed its earnings estimates for six fund firms, it rates only one of them, BlackRock, as "underperform." It rates the others -- Affiliated Managers Group, AllianceBernstein, Franklin Resources, Invesco and Waddell & Reed -- as "outperform."

"The assumption is that, long term, the economy won't completely collapse and people will eventually return to the markets," said Morningstar stock analyst Alan Rambaldini, adding: "Asset management is a great business model and it's very profitable."

The Journal also notes that many ETFs have fared worse than mutual funds. 

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