Broad Equity Funds, Markets Up in Q1'10

A preliminary analysis put out by Lipper shows that U.S. diversified equity funds kept pace with the stock markets in the first three months of 2010

U.S. stock markets had a decent first quarter, with the Dow Jones up 3.37 percent.

Other indexes did even better with the S&P 500 rising 4.55 percent, NYSE increasing 3.6 percent and Nasdaq ticking up a handsome 5.38 percent.

The Russell 2000 beat them all with an 8.99 percent rise.

Fortunately, many mutual fund categories - as tracked and measured by Lipper - rose, as well.

U.S. diversified equity funds grew 5.55 percent, while world equity funds bumped up 1.7 percent. Mixed equity funds rose 2.43 percent, narrowly beating out world income funds at 2.36 percent.

The top-performing funds for the quarter were generally those that had a bullish slant, especially leveraged or two- and three-times, while short or bearish funds lagged considerably.

Over the past 12 months, some funds with a focus on transportation stocks and emerging markets, like Indonesia and Latin America, made it into the top-20 list, which includes ETFs.

Lipper data for the worst-performing fund of the past 12 months include some energy picks, China-short funds, and other bear-tainted offerings.

About the Author
Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Janet Levaux, AdvisorOne

Janet is the Managing Editor of Research Magazine. Over the last 20 years, she has led a successful career as a reporter, writer and editor. She has followed the financial markets since 1991, and has been covering the advisor-industry since early 2005.

Janet earned a BA cum laude from Yale University, an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (in economics and diplomacy), and an MBA from St. Mary’s College. She speaks Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese and has lived, studied and worked (as well as sailed) in Asia, Latin America and Europe.

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