It’s not a great time to be an asset manager, anywhere. Readers in the industry may have noticed our pickup in recent months of the growing drumbeat of stories heralding the rise of passive funds. The Wall Street Journal is out this morning with one of the bluntest assessments we’ve yet read. “The Dying Business of Picking Stocks” (paywall) declares that in the US, “pension funds, endowments … retirement plans and retail investors are flooding into passive investment funds, which run on autopilot by tracking an index. Stock pickers, archetypes of 20th century Wall Street, are being pushed to the margins.” It’s the latest in a stellar series on what the paper is calling “Wall Street’s ‘Do-Nothing’ Investing Revolution.” Hit up the link for its scene setter and the five pieces the Journal has run on the topic to-date.