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 | Semiconductor stocks and Chinese technology equities have been among the best performers, while consumer finance stocks and Chinese energy have lagged. | SMPIX: ProFunds Semiconductor UltraSector Fund | 32.08% | |
| DXNSX: Direxion Monthly NASDAQ | -12.61% | |||
| USD: ProShares Ultra Semiconductors | 44.68% | |||
| RXL: ProShares Ultra Health Care | -89.38% | |||
| U.S. Broad | U.S. small-cap growth equities have outperformed over the last 30 days, while total bond market and foreign small cap equities have suffered. | VRTGX: Vanguard Russell 2000 Growth Index I | 10.67% | |
| VBMFX: Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund | 1.07% | |||
| UMDD: ProShares UltraPro MidCap400 | 25.26% | |||
| TDVG: T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth ETF | -53.86% | |||
| Fixed Inc | In fixed income, long duration bonds have outperformed, while total return Asian bonds and high yield muni bonds experienced negative performance. | PSLDX: PIMCO StocksPLUS® Long Duration Fund | 10.97% | |
| MAINX: Matthews Asia Total Return Bond Fund | -3.77% | |||
| UBT: ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury | 10.74% | |||
| HYD: VanEck Vectors High Yield Muni ETF | -7.14% | |||
| Alts | Real estate and ethereum funds were among the best performers. Natural gas and base metals experienced a drawdown after multi-week gains. | REPIX: ProFunds Real Estate UltraSector Fund | 9.83% | |
| BXMIX: Blackstone Alternative Multi | 0.37% | |||
| URE: ProShares Ultra Real Estate | 40.99% | |||
| BOIL: ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas | -8.08% | |||
| Foreign | Denmark equities and China's clean technology shares posted strong gains, while Brazilian and Chinese energy and utilities stocks recorded big losses. | MSIAX: Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc. International Advantage Portfolio | 9.84% | |
| BIEES: BlackRock GA Dynamic Equity Fund | 5.24% | |||
| EDEN: iShares MSCI Denmark ETF | 25.00% | |||
| XCEM: Columbia EM Core ex | -18.73% |
Fund performance data for the period between October 8, 2021 and November 5, 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 U.S. economic output, also known as GDP, increased by 2% in the third quarter, well below analysts' expectations of 2.8%. The disappointing figure was largely due to a fall in residential fixed investment and federal government spending. Consumer spending was also weak, showing that global supply chain bottlenecks have affected output numbers. |
| Fiscal Policy | The U.S. has passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which aims to boost the country's ailing roads, broadband networks, and railways. The bill is also a big boost to stocks that are expected to build the infrastructure, like construction and infrastructure services. |
| Monetary Policy | The U.S. Federal Reserve has announced that it would begin rolling back its COVID-19 pandemic stimulus program as inflation has been rising dramatically in the country. The bank will reduce its $140 billion per month program by $15 billion per month. The Fed has left interest rates unchanged, with Chair Jay Powell saying it's not the right time yet to do that. The impact on markets was muted. The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to keep its monetary policy steady, while suggesting it is unlikely to raise interest rates next year. Speculation that the ECB might raise rates soon has been rampant after inflation in the Eurozone has picked up. However, ECB President Christine Lagarde said conditions for a lift in interest rates are not yet present and are unlikely to be met in the near future, according to the bank's analysis. European inflation rose 4.1% in October, well above ECB’s goal of close but below 2%. Analysts had expected inflation to hit 3.7%. The Bank of England has surprisingly kept interest rates at record lows, even as inflation has been increasing. The labor market seems tight, but the central bank said it was worried how the economy will react when government help for furloughed workers will end. The Japanese government and the Bank of Japan have agreed to work together on achieving the inflation rate target of 2%. The Bank of Japan has been throwing massive amounts of money into the economy to reach its goal and signaled it will continue to do so until inflation reaches 2%. The news also squashed speculation that the central bank will remove its monetary stimulus. |
| Consumer Spending | Crude oil inventories have risen in all but one week over the past five weeks. This is a signal that the oil market is reaching a balance and demand for crude is falling. This period comes after oil stockpiles declined for most of 2021. |
| Employment | The U.S. economy added an impressive 531,000 jobs in the month of October, beating expectations of 455,000, and up from 312,000 in the prior month. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6% from 4.8%, while hourly earnings advanced by 0.4%. Unemployment claims have continued to decline these past two weeks, a further sign of the job market's strong rebound from the coronavirus pandemic. |
| Manufacturing Sector | U.S. manufacturing sentiment continues to be strong, with the 60.8 reading coming above expectations of 60.4. However, continued supply bottlenecks risk worsening the sentiment. |
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.