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Investing August 3, 2005
S&P: Domestic Equity Funds Shined in July
August 3, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Domestic stocks
funds gained 4.6% in July for their third consecutive month
of positive returns, according to data from Standard &
Poor's.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
An S&P news release said that the firm’s S&P 500, pulled ahead by 3.6% for the month. Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached four-year highs in July. The S&P 500 rose to 1243.72 on July 28, the highest close for the index since June 12, 2001, while the Nasdaq closed at 2198.44, the best since June 8, 2001.
According to S&P, the price of the S&P SmallCap
600 in July traded above the 350 mark for the first time
since its inception on January 3, 1994, returning a
compounded 13.2% per year.
Among style categories, growth-oriented funds outperformed
their value counterparts over the month. Growth funds, on
average, advanced 5.2%, versus a gain of 4.4% for value
funds. Small-cap growth funds stood out among fund
categories, surging 6% on average, while large-cap value
funds had the weakest showing with an average advance
of 3.3%.
According to Standard & Poor’s research, market
sectors helping to boost monthly performance for funds were
information technology, energy, consumer discretionary, and
materials, which all posted strong gains in July.
Positive earnings surprises for the companies of the
S&P 500 also helped propel the performance of stocks
across the board in July, S&P said.