J.P. Morgan Funds Launches Research Equity Long/Short Fund

NEW YORK, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- J.P. Morgan Funds, the mutual fund arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) has launched a new equities mutual fund, the JP Morgan Research Equity Long/Short Fund (A shares: JLSAX).

The Research Equity Long/Short Fund seeks to provide individual investors with exposure to equity-like returns while striving to reduce downside risk and limit volatility, offering a more conservative approach for investors returning to equities.

The fund is managed by senior portfolio manager Terance Chen, who has more than 16 years of investment experience at J.P. Morgan and who is also lead manager of the JP Morgan Research Market Neutral Fund (A shares: JMNAX). The Research Equity Long/Short Fund is also backed by the insights of more than 30 career research analysts, giving it a significant research advantage in identifying undervalued and overvalued securities.

In order to provide long term capital appreciation, the fund engages in the following strategies:

• Using the research team's insights, the portfolio invests in attractively valued securities, offset by short positions in stocks which appear expensive. Long/short pair trades within sectors aims to generate returns while minimizing volatility.
• Maintains a relatively low net market exposure to minimize market risk while emphasizing bottoms-up, fundamental stock selection in generating returns
• The Fund invests primarily in U.S. securities and does not employ leverage or use of derivatives, beyond cash futures.

"The JP Morgan Research Equity Long/Short Fund provides another option for diversification as investors adjust their current portfolio for new market realities," said George Gatch, CEO of J.P. Morgan Investment Management Americas.  "This fund is a dynamic alternative to typical approaches found in pure market neutral strategies, while seeking to provide low correlation to equity and bond markets."

J.P. Morgan Funds is 2nd in net flows for all U.S. mutual fund companies as of 7/31/10 and is the 4th largest mutual fund firm in the U.S., with $393 billion in assets under management (according to Morningstar, as of 7/31/10).   It offers over 100 mutual fund products across the full range of asset classes, as well as separately managed accounts and retirement products.    

Contact JPMorgan Distribution Services at 1-800-338-4345 for a fund prospectus. You can also visit us at www.jpmorganfunds.com . Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives and risks as well as charges and expenses of the mutual fund before investing. The prospectus contains this and other information about the mutual fund. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

The Fund may use derivatives in connection with its investment strategies to hedge and manage risk and to increase its return. Derivatives may be riskier than other types of investments because they may be more sensitive to changes in economic or market conditions than other types of investments and could result in losses that significantly exceed the Fund's original investment. The Fund will have substantial short positions and must borrow those securities to make delivery to the buyer. The Fund may not always be able to borrow a security it wants to sell short. The Fund also may be unable to close out an established short position at an acceptable price, and may have to sell related long positions at disadvantageous times.