• U.S. equities, international equities and commodities all saw large declines this week.

• The best-performing fund for 2018 on a year-to-date basis is the Leland Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index Fund (LDVAX).

• Latin American equities is the best-performing mutual funds subcategory based on the rolling-month returns.

• Make sure to check out the previous edition of the Weekly Roundup to keep track of changing trends in the mutual funds space.

U.S. Equities – U.S. equity markets all had massive declines this week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 4.12%, to close at 25,521. The index is still up 3.24% on a year-to-date basis. The S&P 500 also had a decrease of 3.85% for the week, to close at 2,762, and is up 3.31% year-to-date. NASDAQ Composite declined 3.53% and closed at 7,241. However, NASDAQ is the best-returning index among most major indices on a year-to-date basis and is up 4.89%.

With every sector of the market down this week, the least declining sector was this the telecommunications sector, which was down 1.28%. This sector consists of companies like AT&T Inc (NYSE:T), which was down 1.69% for the week.

International Equities – International markets were also down this week. The MSCI Developed Market Index fell 2.74%, to close at 2,124. The MSCI Emerging Index had a decrease of 3.29%, to close at 1,231. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also retreated this week by 1.51% and closed at 23,275.

Commodities – Like the equity markets, the commodity sector was also down. Crude oil fell $0.69 per barrel to close at $65.45. The price of gold decreased $18 per troy ounce, to close at $1,344. Copper decreased by $0.01, to close at $3.19.

Taxable Bonds – Treasury yields were up this week, with the 2-year Treasury gaining 2 bps to yield 2.14%. The 10-year Treasury yield increased by 18 bps, while the 30-year Treasury yield also jumped by 18 bps and now yields 3.09%.

Municipal Bonds – Municipal yields all saw increases, with the 2-year AAA-rated bonds gaining 4 bps to now yield 1.58%. The 10-year AAA-rated bonds saw a large increase of 25 bps, while the 30-year AAA-rated bonds increased 18 bps to yield 3.04%. Municipal bond funds saw another inflow for the fourth week in a row and grew by $253 million in assets under management. The largest credit spread for the five-year securities shrank to 66 bps for the week.

Be sure to read important tips on how to invest in the right commodity-based mutual fund.

Explore our Mutual Funds Education section to learn more about important mutual funds concepts.

The following table provides a list of the top-performing mutual fund subcategories for the previous week within the broader categories of the industry. In each of these subcategories, we have listed the top mutual funds based on the one-month return generated as of February 2, 2018.

Top-performing fund: Leland Thomson Reuters Vntr Cptl Idx A (LDVAX).

The fund’s largest holding is in MasterCard (NYSE:MA), which is up over 8% for 2018.

Top 5 Performers

The following table provides the top-performing mutual funds on a YTD basis as of February 2, 2018. Only those funds that are rated five stars by Morningstar and that generated YTD returns greater than or equal to that achieved by the S&P 500 are included.

We provide this report on a weekly basis. To stay up to date with mutual fund market events, return to our News section.