The sectors of the Fund that had the strongest relative performance for the fourth quarter were technology, energy and telecommunications services. In the technology sector, stocks with strong absolute price returns included Cree, Inc. (1.8% of the Fund), Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (2.4%), Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. (1.3%) and Solera Holdings, Inc., (1.3%). All of these companies had recently reported better than expected earnings per share growth, and forecasts of near-term earnings were also very favorable. In the energy sector, Arena Resources, Inc. (1.0%) was a significant gainer, with help from a new pipeline transport agreement that will benefit the company through lower charges. Core Laboratories N.V. (1.7%), Southwestern Energy Co. (1.3%) and Atlas Energy, Inc. (1.2%) were other strong performers in the energy sector. Among the Fund's telecommunications services holdings, American Tower Corp. (1.5%) and NII Holdings, Inc. (0.8%) were up significantly more than the benchmark due to favorable trends at each company.

The Fund's sectors that detracted the most from relative performance were financials, materials, and consumer discretionary. In the financials sector, four stocks were significantly weaker than the market: Axis Capital Holdings, Ltd. (1.4%), Lazard, Ltd. (1.0%), TD AMERITRADE Holding Corp. (2.0%) and Lincoln National Corp. (1.2%). Lazard's chairman passed away during the quarter after a brief illness, but his successor has been named and the company is expected to successfully carry on. The other stocks were subjected to price weakness due to a combination of profit-taking and near-term fundamental concerns that do not appear to be significant to the long-term outlook for the companies. The same was true in the materials sector, where weaknesses in Crown Holdings, Inc. (1.6%) and Airgas, Inc. (1.2%) were due to profit taking and short-term fundamental factors. Many of the strongest benchmark names in the materials sector have a significant exposure to commodity prices, which was a positive for stock performance during the quarter. It was a slight negative for the Fund, however, which is underweighted in these names. In the consumer staples sector, GameStop was weak after a recent slowdown in growth from very high levels, although the company recently beat quarterly consensus estimates and management raised near-term guidance.

For 2009 as a whole, the Fund trailed its S&P MidCap 400® benchmark. Early in the year, when the market was declining, the Fund outperformed its benchmark due to a defensive bias. When the stock market began its dramatic rally in early March, stocks with low or negative earnings growth, low or negative return-on-equity and lower Standard & Poor's quality ratings were the market leaders. These were not the characteristics of the stocks held in the Fund and the Fund lagged its benchmark. Late in the third quarter, as the investment environment began to return to more normal conditions, low quality and the lack of earnings no longer defined the top-performing stocks and the relative performance of the Fund began to improve. For the twelve months ended December 31, 2009, the sectors that contributed the most to the Fund's relative performance were financials, telecommunications services and energy. In contrast, health care, consumer discretionary and materials detracted from relative returns.

The Munder Mid-Cap Core Growth Fund, with its emphasis on earnings momentum and reasonable valuation, continues to exhibit characteristics that compare favorably to its S&P MidCap 400® benchmark. For example, over the past twelve months, earnings per share for the typical company held in the Fund have grown at 11%, compared to a negative 11% for the benchmark. Over the next twelve months, earnings growth of 17% is expected for the Fund versus 13% for the S&P MidCap 400® Index*. Furthermore, revenue growth over the past twelve months was 0% for the Fund and a negative 8% for its benchmark. Return-on-equity, a basic measure of profitability, was 14% over the past twelve months for the Fund compared to 10% for the S&P MidCap 400® Index. Despite these favorable fundamental characteristics, the valuation of the Fund was quite reasonable, with a price-to-earnings ratio on projected earnings over the next twelve months of 18 times earnings, only slightly higher than the S&P MidCap 400® multiple of 17 times earnings*. We believe the Fund is well positioned for the challenges that lie ahead in 2010. Our disciplined investment approach has served our investors well historically, and we believe this philosophy offers compelling opportunities going forward.