Investing May 6, 2002
Bond Funds Beat out Equities in April
May 6, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Benefiting from
conflicting economic data and the equity market's struggle to
find footing, US bond mutual funds, with combined assets of
$2.47 trillion, gained a little ground in April, according to
figures from Lipper, Inc.
Reported by Camilla Klein
The average taxable US bond fund inched up by 1.1% over the month, bringing year-to-date returns to 1.4%, while equity funds, depressed by a poor outlook for corporate profits, slid a further 3.7% in April, bringing the year-to-date tally to a disappointing -3.3%.
Investors also found cash unappealing over the month,
and, amid growing consensus that the US central bank is
unlikely to start tightening the money supply any time
soon, showed a clear preference for fixed income bets.
According to data from Lipper, over the month:
- general US Treasury funds gained 2.9%
- US government funds gained 2.2%
- target-maturity funds were up 4.2%
- high-yield funds edged up by 1.1%
- emerging markets debt funds were up by 1.1%.