BUSINESS
March 13, 2012 | By Walter Hamilton
It looks like actively managed stock funds can't beat the market -- even when the market itself is struggling. More than four out of five actively managed U.S. stock funds trailed their underlying indexes in 2011, even though the stock market plodded through an uninspiring year, according to new research . An analysis by Standard & Poor's Corp. found that 84% of funds underperformed last year. That's even worse than their dismal showings in the recent past. Over the last three years, 57% of funds trailed their indexes.
BUSINESS
July 26, 2012 | By Walter Hamilton
The appeal of target-date mutual funds is their exposure to so many parts of the financial markets. It's also what caused target funds to lose money in the second quarter. The average target fund lost 2.8% from April to June, dragged down by the nearly 7% loss in their non-U.S. stock holdings, according to Ibbotson Associates. That was a reversal from their 9% rally in the first quarter. Target funds are now down over the past 12 months, with the average fund off 0.5%. That's also driven by non-U.S.
BUSINESS
January 10, 2012 | By Walter Hamilton
Exchange-traded mutual funds that use risky strategies in pursuit of outsized returns are not making the stock market more volatile, according to a study by Morningstar Inc. The report argues that so-called leveraged ETFs, which attempt to magnify underlying moves in stock prices, have had little effect on the market's heightened volatility in the last few years. Instead, the study says, fundamental factors such as corporate earnings play a far bigger role. The fund-tracking firm is walking a fine line of sorts in its report.
BUSINESS
January 11, 2009 | associated press
Mutual fund investors should always take note of what investing fees they're being charged, particularly in this tough investing climate. Transactions: The costs associated with an individual investor's transactions and account are listed in a fee table, located near the front of a fund's prospectus, under the heading "Shareholder Fees." They include: * Sales loads: A fee charged to compensate the brokers.
BUSINESS
October 15, 1990
Average total return, including dividends, in percent for periods ended Thursday, Oct. 11. Category (No. of funds) Week Year-to-date 12 months International: foreign +0.65% -11.1% -5.1% stocks only (56) Utilities (15) -1.14 -8.2 -3.1 Global: U.S. and foreign -1.23 -12.5 -9.5 stocks (42) Fixed income (535) -1.25 +0.2 +1.4 Balanced: stock and bond (60) -3.12 -7.8 -7.8 Equity income (66) -3.80 -13.7 -14.1 Natural resources (19) -4.36 -6.6 -1.2 Health/biotechnology (9) -4.46 +1.0 +3.
BUSINESS
October 16, 2002 | Bloomberg News
The number of U.S. households owning mutual funds fell for the first time in 15 years in the 12 months ended in May, amid the longest stock decline since the Great Depression. About 54.2 million households, or 50% of those in the U.S., owned mutual funds in May 2002, according to the Investment Company Institute, the industry's trade group. That's 3.7% less than a year earlier. The number of households owning funds doubled in less than 10 years from 25.8 million, or 27% of the country, in 1992.