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 | Semiconductors shares have outperformed over the last 30 days on strong demand for chips, while natural gas companies have suffered. | FSELX: Fidelity® Select Semiconductors Portfolio | 4.3% | |
| ADNCX: American Beacon ARK Transformational Innovation Fund | -24.8% | |||
| BNKD: MicroSectors™ U.S. Big Banks Index | 14.1% | |||
| BOIL: ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas | -54.0% | |||
| U.S. Broad | Blue chip bonds and large caps have posted strong performance. At the other end of the spectrum are small-caps and energy. | VBMFX: Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund | 0.4% | |
| SMCIX: Shelton Capital Management S&P Smallcap Index Fund | -14.0% | |||
| PLC: Principal U.S. Large | 8.0% | |||
| PSCE: Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | -15.8% | |||
| Fixed Inc | Long-term bonds and Treasuries have been favored by investors during the last 30 days, while convertible bonds and clean energy bonds have disappointed. | VEDIX: Vanguard Extended Duration Trs Idx InsPl | 6.6% | |
| IRBYX: Ivy Pictet Targeted Return Bond Fund | -7.4% | |||
| UBT: ProShares Ultra 20+ Year Treasury | 10.1% | |||
| ICVT: iShares Convertible Bond ETF | -14.5% | |||
| Alts | Market neutral funds and real estate recorded solid gains. Commodities and natural gas experienced a drawdown. | VMNIX: Vanguard Market Neutral Fund | 5.7% | |
| SPCAX: SilverPepper Commodity Strategies Global Macro Fund | -22.4% | |||
| VIXM: ProShares VIX Mid | 14.4% | |||
| BOIL: ProShares Ultra Bloomberg Natural Gas | -54.0% | |||
| Foreign | China, United Arab Emirates, and India have climbed during the last month, while Turkey and Argentina posted disappointing performances. | CHILX: BlackRock China A Opportunities Fund | 1.1% | |
| LADCX: Lord Abbett Developing Growth Fund | -33.9% | |||
| UAE: iShares MSCI UAE ETF | 4.6% | |||
| TUR: iShares MSCI Turkey ETF | -15.5% |
Fund performance data for the period between November 4, 2021 and December 3, 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 is expected to increase by just 2.1% in the third quarter. The disappointing figure was largely due to low consumer spending, which was likely affected by supply shortages and a tight labor market. |
| Monetary Policy | Federal Reserve's meeting minutes have suggested that policymakers are ready to increase interest rates if inflation continues to rise. The minutes indicate that the Fed is changing its stance after previously signalling the high inflation was transitory. U.S. inflation now stands at a 30-year high of 6.2%. European inflation is also running hot as shown by the consumer price index, which rose from 4.1% to 4.9%. However, the European Central Bank is not yet considering tightening monetary policy, deeming the high inflation transitory. |
| Consumer Spending | Pending home sales in the U.S. jumped 7.5% in November, smashing expectations of 0.8%, as demand for housing remains very strong. |
| Employment | U.S. unemployment claims are now below pre-pandemic levels at fewer than 200,000, a strong sign that the labor market is tight. U.S. unemployment rate has dropped from 4.5% to 4.2%, very close to pre-pandemic levels. The U.S. economy added 210,000 jobs in November, half of what economists had expected. Meanwhile, hourly earnings climbed 0.3% compared with 0.4% forecasted, which is likely to ease inflation expectations. |
| Manufacturing Sector | U.S. manufacturing sentiment continues to be strong, despite the Omicron variant of COVID-19 triggering a selloff in global markets. ISM manufacturing PMI rose from 60.8 to 61.1 in December. The Saudi Arabia-led OPEC has agreed to hike its supply of oil by 400,000 barrels per month starting in 2022, after some calls by the U.S. to stabilize oil prices. Chinese manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) edged into expansion territory in December to 50.1, after two consecutive months of negative readings. |
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.