MutualFunds.com provides a snapshot of the performance of some key mutual funds and ETFs, trying to capture investor interest in specific areas of the financial markets. The report is aimed at providing a quick overview of the sectors, regions and asset classes that moved in a meaningful manner in the last 30 days. In addition, the report also highlights some of the key economic indicators for major geographies, reminding you to adjust your portfolios if required.
MutualFunds.com generates this report every fortnight. In order to select the mutual funds and ETFs highlighted in this report, MutualFunds.com uses a system to automatically scan through hundreds of relevant securities within different sectors, regions and asset classes. The system only picks up the best and worst performing securities for further manual analysis.
Performance Scorecard
Check out best and worst performers across different sectors, geographies and assset claases.
| Category | Monthly Performance | Mutual Funds | ETFs | 1-month Ret (%) |
| Sector | Oil and gas and the broader energy sector have continued to outperform in the last 30 days. Meanwhile, technology and biotechnology shares have disappointed. | ENPIX: ProFunds UltraSector Oil & Gas Fund | 20.87% | |
| UOPSX: ProFunds UltraNASDAQ | -10.82% | |||
| DIG: ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas | 28.68% | |||
| BIB: ProShares Ultra Nasdaq Biotechnology | -15.64% | |||
| U.S. Broad | Value stocks are gaining favor with investors after years of being shunned. Bond funds connected to the S&P 500 Index are among the worst performers. | VSIAX: Vanguard Small Cap Value Index Fund | 4.40% | |
| IAPRX: Ivy ProShares S&P 500 Bond Index A | -1.68% | |||
| RYE: Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight Energy ETF | 16.48% | |||
| BRF: VanEck Vectors Brazil Small | -15.64% | |||
| Fixed Inc | Chinese bonds along with municipal bonds posted strong performance, while intermediate to long-term treasuries performed poorly. | HSHIX: Hartford Schroders China A Fund | 3.85% | |
| IOSIX: Voya Global Bond Portfolio | -4.14% | |||
| TLO: SPDR® Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF | 6.67% | |||
| ITE: SPDR® Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF | -15.38% | |||
| Alts | Steel, energy, and cryptocurrencies have been among the best performers these past 30 days, while real estate assets have experienced a serious drawdown. | MLPRX: Invesco SteelPath MLP Income Fund | 9.97% | |
| GSRHX: Goldman Sachs Real Estate Diversified Income Fund | ||||
| GBTC: Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (BTC) | 42.42% | |||
| MVIN: Natixis Seeyond International Minimum Volatility ETF | -29.04% | |||
| Foreign | Chinese, Indonesian, and Peruvian shares have recorded strong gains. At the other end of the spectrum are Brazil and Denmark with woeful performances. | UGPIX: ProFunds UltraChina | 24.09% | |
| VKIRX: Virtus KAR International Small | -9.54% | |||
| EIDO: iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF | 14.57% | |||
| EDEN: iShares MSCI Denmark ETF | -20.00% |
Fund performance data for the period between September 24, 2021 and October 22, 2021.
Key Economic Indicators
Check out our quick take on the key economic indicators across North America, Europe and Asia.
| Economic Indicators | Comments |
| GDP | The Chinese GDP rose 4.9% in the third quarter, disappointing analysts who had expected an increase of 5%. The economy slowed down partly due to poor industrial production growth, up just 3.1%. Weak industrial production was offset by higher retail sales, which rose 4.4% in September compared to the same period a year ago. |
| Monetary Policy | U.S. inflation edged higher in September to 5.4% from 5.3% in the prior month. Continued stubbornly high inflation raises concerns that it may not be transitory as the Federal Reserve previously thought, particularly since suppliers are having trouble fulfilling orders amid high demand. The U.S. Federal Reserve is watching inflation carefully. The minutes from policymakers’ latest meeting show that the central bank could begin reducing its asset purchase program as soon as November. UK inflation has slowed down in September to 3.1% from 3.2% previously. However, it may rise in the coming months as the government announced an increase in minimum pay for workers in the public sector. |
| Consumer Spending | U.S. retail sales for September were better than expected, rising 0.7% versus a 0.2% contraction forecasted by pundits. Core retail sales were even better, advancing 0.8%. Germany's ZEW economic sentiment has continued to decline this month, although it remains in expansion mode. Demand remains strong across the board, but the sentiment deteriorated largely due to supply bottlenecks for raw materials and other products. This in turn risks derailing the ongoing recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The index has fallen for five months in a row. |
| Employment | U.S. unemployment claims have fallen below 300,000 per week over the past two weeks for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. This shows the resilience and the strong recovery of the U.S. labor market. |
| Manufacturing Sector | U.S. crude oil inventories slightly declined in the October 15 week, the first drop in three weeks. Traders keep a close eye on inventories for hints about demand for crude. Due to strong demand and lack of supply, oil prices are hovering near record highs and are expected to continue to rise. Europe-wide manufacturing purchasing managers' index stayed strong in October, falling only slightly and continuing to be in expansion territory. Analysts had expected a fall. Manufacturing sentiment has continued to be hurt by supply bottlenecks. |
| Service Sector | European services PMI fell from 56.4 to 54.7, as the COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged some Eastern European countries, where vaccination rates are very low. This has not yet affected Western Europe largely because vaccination rates there are higher and restrictions tougher. |
We provide this report on a fortnightly basis. To stay up to date with mutual fund market events, come back to our news page here.