A free fall in U.S. coal mining employment that began after a near-term peak in the final quarter of 2011 has extended into 2014, with first-quarter employment dropping by more than 5,700 jobs, or a decline of about 7.0%, compared to same quarter a year ago.
While first- and second-ranked Vanguard and T. Rowe Price saw year-over-year declines in the market value of the firms' respective publicly traded U.S. coal company investments, the aggregate market value of holdings among the top 25 institutional investors rose almost 14%.