Wall Street Selloff Puts First Quarter Mutual Fund Returns Into the Red

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBHT01NQ6E.html

NEW YORK (AP) - The stock market's retreat over the past three weeks has eroded the value of mutual funds, the vast majority of which posted negative returns for investors for the quarter, according to a preliminary survey released Friday by mutual fund watcher Lipper Inc.

U.S. diversified equity funds - the most common mutual funds found in 401(k) and other savings plans, with more than $3 trillion in assets - posted an average 3 percent negative return for the first quarter, Lipper said.

Growth funds, which incorporate riskier stocks than core or value funds, saw the worst returns. Small-cap growth funds had a negative return of 5.27 percent, followed by large-cap growth funds' 5.18 percent negative returns. Only specialty diversified funds, usually those which invest using religious or ethical philosophies, saw a positive return, averaging 4.37 percent. The 127 specialty funds in the survey account for just $14.8 billion in assets, Lipper said.

Sector equity funds had an average 4.83 percent negative return on the $196 billion under management. With the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index having lagged the rest of the market considerably, it's no surprise that the worst sector performers were technology funds, with a 9.39 percent negative return, and telecommunications funds, with a 7.55 percent negative return.

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[UpInArms]

1. more reasons to substantiate the BFEE's push

for piratization!

Rely upon "market forces" to make you secure in your retirement!

Kill that "entitlement" program!

All the lies will hopefully be exposed (on what planet?).

Thanks for the post :hi:

[ckramer]

2. It's gonna go lower

Stock market is a place where the big money swallows the small money. A zero sum game.

[Iowa]

10. True if you're a trader or a timer...

but there's a very big difference between traders/timers and buy and hold investors. Historically the equity markets have outperformed other asset classes over relatively long periods of time. Those who buy and hold the entire market via no-load, low cost (VERY low cost) mutual funds or ETFs have done very well. That being said, the market had a spectacular run for two decades until the 2000-2003 bear, and many believe it's still way overvalued and due for a shakeout. I tend to be in that camp, but that's just the nature of equities. They go up and they go down. These "first quarter sell-off" numbers are hardly a blip on the radar and of absolutely no concern for investors who invest for the long haul.

Actually, I would welcome a whopping decline anytime. I would prefer to see lower prices and higher dividends, and it might help to bury, once and for all, the chimp's disastrous SS push.

[Demit]

3. reminds me of that highway sign "If you lived here you'd be home now"--

"If you were retiring here, you'd be fucked now".

[ckramer]

6. Let me guess

You are from Boston?

[Demit]

9. No, they had those "If you lived here" signs in the Phila area too

[leveymg]

4. If * is bad for valuations, then why does the Street still support him?

Since they're not going to get the privatization bonanza he promised, and he's bad for overall valuations, so why don't they flush this turd?

Fool them once, shame on Shrub, twice shame on the securities industry, but three times - don't they ever learn?

[TahitiNut]

5. Because the 'Street' capitalizes on moves in either direction.

It's a total myth that they have a vested interest in only the upside. It's only that the upside is better propaganda. The really BIG windfalls accrue to the wealthy on the downside.

[ckramer]

7. It's so very true.

The big money robs the small investors both ways.

[leveymg]

8. That's true for the Hedge Funds, but the Managers of the Equity Funds

won't get their big annual bonuses unless things really turn around before the end of the year.

Most middle-class retirement money is riding in the baskets of the equity funds.

That makes it us against them. I can see the bumper stickers:

For a Healthy Retirement - Dump Bush-Cheney.

Stockholders For U.S. Regime Change.

Bush Owes Me Two Trillion In Lost Earnings.

:+