Mutual Funds Weekly Roundup: February 22

MutualFunds.com provides weekly information about any material impact on the mutual funds industry due to major economic and corporate events around the world. In addition, performance statistics on the top funds and fund categories are also provided.

• U.S. equities, international equities and commodities all bounced back after the major market sell-off.

• The best-performing fund for 2018 on a year-to-date basis is the Leland Thomson Reuters Vntr Cptl Idx I (LDVIX).

• 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 saw a major bounceback after two weeks in a row of declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.25%, to close at 25,219, and is now up 2.02% on a year-to-date basis. The S&P 500 also had an increase of 4.30% for the week, to close at 2,732, and is up 2.19% year-to-date. The NASDAQ Composite increased 5.31%, to close at 7,239. The NASDAQ is the best-performing index among most major indices on a year-to-date basis and is up 4.87%.

This week’s best-performing sector is information technology, which was up 5.90%. This sector consists of companies like Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which was up 10.24% for the week.

International Equities – International markets were also up this week. The MSCI Developed Market Index increased 4.28%, to close at 2,076. The MSCI Emerging Market Index had an increase of 5.04%, to close at 1,200. Japan’s Nikkei 225 also gained this week by 1.58%, to close at 21,720.

Commodities – Like the equity markets, the commodity sector saw gains. Crude oil increased $2.48 per barrel to close at $61.68. The price of gold increased $40 per troy ounce, to close at $1,353. Copper increased by $0.22, to close at $3.25.

Taxable Bonds – Treasury yields were up this week, with the exception of the 30-year Treasury. The 2-Year Treasury gained 12 bps to yield 2.19%. The 10-year Treasury yield increased by 2 bps and now yields 2.87%. The 30-year Treasury yield declined by 3 bps and now yields 3.13%.

Municipal Bonds – Municipal yields all saw increases, with the exception of the 2-year AAA-rated bonds, which remained unchanged and continues to yield 1.55%. The 10-year AAA-rated bonds saw an increase of 2 bps, while the 30-year AAA-rated bonds saw an increase of 6 bps to yield 3.07%. Municipal bond funds broke a five-week trend of inflows and saw outflows of $383 million this week. The largest credit spread for the five-year securities increased to 66 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 16, 2018.

Top-performing fund: Top-performing fund: Leland Thomson Reuters Vntr Cptl Idx I (LDVIX).

The fund’s largest holding is MasterCard Inc. (NYSE:MA), which is up over 16% on a year-to-date basis.

Top Five Performers

The following table provides the top-performing mutual funds on a YTD basis as of February 16, 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.