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Mutual Funds Weekly Roundup: May 17

Brian Mathews May 17, 2018

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. and international equities and commodities were all up this week.

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

Large Cap Growth Equities is the best-performing mutual funds subcategory based on 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 industry.

Market Wrap-Up

U.S. Equities – U.S. equity markets were finally up this week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up by 2.34% to close at 24,831, and is now up 0.45% on a year-to-date basis. The S&P 500 also gained 2.41% for the week to close at 2,728, and is up 2.02% year-to-date. The NASDAQ Composite increased 2.68% to close at 7,403. NASDAQ is still the best-performing index among major indices on a year-to-date basis and is up 7.24%.

The best-performing sector was energy, up 4.02% for the week, and remains the second best-performing sector on a year-to-date basis, up 7.12%. This sector consists of companies like Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM), which was up 5.26% for the week.

International Equities – The international markets were also up this week, with the MSCI Developed Market Index up 1.64% to close at 2,060. The MSCI Emerging Market Index gained 2.52% to close at 1,164. Finally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.27%, to close at 22,758.

Commodities – The commodities markets were all up this week, with crude oil gaining $0.98 per barrel to close at $70.70. The price of gold increased by $6 per troy ounce to close at $1,319. Copper prices also increased by $0.03 to close at $3.11.

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

Taxable Bonds – Treasury yields were mostly up this week, with the exception of the 10-year Treasury. The 2-year Treasury increased by 3 bps to now yield 2.53%. The 10-year Treasury yield dropped 7 bps and now yields 2.88%. The 30-year Treasury increased 1 bps to yield 3.13%.

Municipal Bonds – Municipal yields were all down this week again, with the 2-year AAA-rated bonds decreasing by 1 bps to yield 1.85%. The 10-year AAA-rated bonds saw a decrease of 2 bps, while the 30-year AAA-rated bonds fell 2 bps, to now yield 3.03%. Municipal bond funds returned to inflows of $143 million after seeing outflows of $355 million last week. The largest credit spread for the five-year securities increased to 75 bps for the week.

Explore our Mutual Fund Education section to learn more about important mutual fund concepts.

Performance Snapshot: Top Fund Category

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 May 11, 2018.

Category	Top Subcategory	1-Month Subcategory Return (%)	Top Subcategory Performer	Ticker	1-Month Fund Return (%)	Performance Rationale
U.S. Equity Fund	Large Cap Growth Equities	4.66%	Meridian Equity Income A	MRAEX	12.15%	One of the fund's largest holding is NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), which is up over 31% on a year-to-date basis.
International Equity	World Large Stock	2.11%	Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Gr Eq 2	BGLTX	7.36%	The fund's largest holding is Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), which is up over 36% on a year-to-date basis.
Commodities	Broad Basket	1.72%	Credit Suisse Commodity Acss Strat I	CRCIX	4.58%	With commodities and bond prices increasing this week, this fund benefitted by remaining invested in both.
Taxable Bonds	Bank Loans	0.30%	First Investors Floating Rate Instl	FRFNX	0.61%	Floating rate bonds continue to see the week's largest gains, just like the previous week.
Municipal Bonds	High Yield Municipal Bonds	0.48%	Oppenheimer Rochester® High Yld Muni Y	ORNYX	1.62%	Just like the previous week, high yield muni bonds continue to see the largest increase in prices.

Performance Snapshot: Top Fund

Top-performing fund: Leland Thomson Reuters Venture Capital Index Fund (LDVIX)

One of the fund’s largest holdings is Adobe Systems Inc (NASDAQ:ADBE), which is up over 36% on a year-to-date basis.

Top Five Performers

The following table provides the top-performing mutual funds on a YTD basis as of May 11, 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.

Name	Ticker	Category	YTD %	Net Expense Ratio	% of Assets in Top 10 Holdings	Total Assets $ (Millions)	Top Sector Invested
Leland Thomson Reuters Vntr Cptl Idx I	LDVIX	Large Cap Growth Equities	21.52%	1.74%	29.00%	$46	Technology
ClearBridge Select IS	LCSSX	Mid Cap Growth Equities	17.82%	2.02%	22.60%	$59	Technology
Morgan Stanley Multi Cap Growth I	CPODX	Large Cap Growth Equities	17.20%	0.95%	53.30%	$527	Technology
Virtus KAR Small-Cap Growth I	PXSGX	Small Cap Growth Equities	17.05%	1.25%	49.50%	$2,920	Technology
Morgan Stanley Inst Growth I	MSEQX	Large Cap Growth Equities	16.73%	0.55%	51.30%	$4,920	Technology