According to the National Managers’ League, the profitability of unit investment trusts run by metallurgical enterprises dropped below zero on July 24-31, 2008. For one, the share price of Trubnaya Ploschad – Russian Metallurgy (Bank of Moscow Management Company) went down by 10.44%, that of Rus-Capital-Metallurgy (Rus-Capital Management Company) dropped by 9.18%, and that of BCS Metallurgy Fund (BrokerCreditService Management Company) decreased by 8.5%. At the same time, the share prices of CIT Fortis-Russian Metallurgy and Machine-Building (CIT Fortis Investments Management Company), Troika Dialog-Metallurgy (Troika Dialog Management Company) Alfa Capital Metallurgy (Alfa Capital Management Company), VTB-Metallurgy Fund (VTB Asset Management), and Uralsib Russian Metals (Uralsib Management Company) went down by 8.45%, 8.32%, 7.63%, 7.62%, and 7.52%, respectively.

Thus the metallurgical sector’s unit investment trusts topped the falling quotations’ ratings. Most experts believe this dramatic drop in the securities and unit investment trusts’ price quotations has been mainly brought about by Head of Russian Federation Government Vladimir Putin’s unflattering critique of Mechel’s pricing policies. As a matter of fact, prior to the latest events, the metallurgical sector’s unit investment trusts were doing much better than all the other sectors of Russian economy.