Investing April 4, 2001

US Equity Funds Plummet in Q1

April 4, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - US stock funds suffered their worst quarter in more than two years, according to final data from fund tracker Lipper.
Reported by

U.S. diversified stock funds fell 13.09% in the first quarter of 2000, the worst since the third quarter of 1998 when Russia’s financial crisis and the near collapse of hedge fund Long Term Capital Management pulled markets down, according to Reuters.

It was the first back-to-back quarterly loss for stock funds since the first half of 1994, as nearly every sector suffered losses.  Small-cap value stocks were a rare piece of good news, up 1.05% for the quarter ending March 31.  However, small-cap growth funds slipped 18.58%.

Turnaround

Health and biotechnology funds plunged 21.70% after a stunning 54.89% gain in 2000.  On the other hand, science and technology funds piled a quarterly loss of 34.21% on top of last year’s 33.92% tumble.

Telecommunications funds slid another 26.46%, adding to their 35% loss the previous year.  Financial services funds lost 7.51%, while real estate funds slipped 1.42%.

Fund Favorites

Of the 25 largest U.S. mutual funds, the only one to show a gain was PIMCO’s Total Return Fund, a fixed income fund, which finished the quarter up 2.85%.  Among other popular funds: 

  • Fidelity’s Magellan was down 12.41%
  • Vanguard’s 500 Index down 11.9%
  • Janus Twenty down 24.6%

Large-Cap Growth Funds fell nearly 21%, while large-cap value funds were off more than 7%.  In other fund categories:

  • Global Funds were off 14.19%
  • Global Small-Cap Funds were down 14.34%
  • International Funds fell 14.30%
  • International Small-Cap dropped 13.74%


 

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