• 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 Infinity Q Diversified Alpha Investor (IQDAX).

• Emerging markets taxable 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 for the second week in a row, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 5.21%, to close at 24,921. The index is now down 2.14% on a year-to-date basis. The S&P 500 also had a decrease of 5.16% for the week, to close at 2,620, and is down 2.02% year-to-date. The NASDAQ Composite declined 5.06% and closed at 6,874. However, NASDAQ is the best-returning index among most major indices on a year-to-date basis and is down 0.42%.

With every sector of the market down this week, the least declining sector was the utilities sector, which was down 2.65%. This sector consists of companies like NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE), which was down 2.07% for the week.

International Equities – International markets were also down this week. The MSCI Developed Market Index fell 6.19%, to close at 1,992. The MSCI Emerging Market Index had a decrease of 7.14%, to close at 1,143. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also fell this week by 8.13% and closed at 21,383.

Commodities – Like the equity markets, the commodity sector was also down. Crude oil fell $6.25 per barrel to close at $59.20. The price of gold decreased $21 per troy ounce, to close at $1,313. Copper decreased by $0.15, to close at $3.03.

Taxable Bonds – Treasury yields were up this week, with the exception of the 2-year Treasury, which fell 7 bps to yield 2.07%. The 10-year Treasury yield increased by 1 bps, while the 30-year Treasury yield also jumped by 7 bps and now yields 3.16%.

Municipal Bonds – Municipal yields all saw decreases, with the 2-year AAA-rated bonds falling by 3 bps to now yield 1.55%. The 10-year AAA-rated bonds saw a large decrease of 2 bps, while the 30-year AAA-rated bonds decreased 3 bps to yield 3.01%. Municipal bond funds saw another inflow for the fifth week in a row and grew by $621 million. The largest credit spread for the five-year securities shrank to 62 bps for the week.

Be sure to read our 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 9, 2018.

Top-performing fund: Infinity Q Diversified Alpha Investor (IQDAX).

With the markets tumbling this week, this fund was invested in alternative investments like interest rate swaps.

Top 5 Performers

The following table provides the top-performing mutual funds on a YTD basis as of February 9, 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.