Active fund managers must be gloating when they see what has been visited on passive investments during this latest market slide. The latest financial statements from the SSgA Dow Jones Canada 40 Index Participation Fund show why passive investing can be painful.

The exchange-traded fund’s stake in Nortel Networks single handedly wiped out more than $100 million of portfolio value. The fund’s financials show that it owned more than 1.5 million shares of Nortel in the period ended June 30, 2001. It paid almost $135 millon for those shares, which by the end of the period were worth just over $21 million.

The loss of $114 million in market value helped take down the fund’s total portfolio value from $325 million to $222.5 million at the end of the period. If it’s any consolation, that stake now accounts for just 9.45% of the portfolio.