Insightful Investing Newsletter April 2010
1st Quarter 2010 Market Update
A strong March turned what looked to be a market correction into the fourth positive quarter in a row for stocks, in spite of the possibility of financial collapse in Greece. Leading the charge was Real Estate and Small Cap Value funds, both picking up just over 10%.
A gain of 7% for Value funds topped the 5% return for Growth funds mostly because they held up better back in January. Small Cap stocks with an 8.9% return were considerably stronger than Large Cap stocks which returned 5.4% for the quarter.
Financial issues in Europe helped to strengthen the dollar, leading to gain of only 1.4% for International stocks in the first quarter.
Following the lead of stocks, Emerging Market Bonds gained 4.8% and High Yield Bonds picked up 4.6% this quarter. Other Bonds gained between 1% and 3% during the first quarter of 2010.
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1st Quarter 2010 Mutual Fund and ETF Review
Our biggest winner for the quarter was Buffalo Small Cap (BUFSX) which picked up 11.4% this quarter. Next in line was a gain of 9.7% for Cohen and Steers Realty Shares (CSRSX). Wells Fargo Advantage Growth (SGROX) was our top Large Cap Fund with an increase of 7.4% and Buffalo Mid Cap (BUFMX) topped our list of Mid Cap Funds with a gain of 9.5%. On the international front, Lazard Emerging Markets (LZOEX) picked up 6% this quarter.
On the fixed income side of the house, Payden Emerging Markets Bond (PYEMX) was the leader of the pack, returning 5.5% for investors this quarter. A couple of other strong performers were Artio Global High Income (BJBHX) which added 4.5% and Metropolitan West Total Return Bond (MWTRX) which tacked on 3.9% in the first quarter of 2010.
Portfolio Changes and Asset Allocation for 3rd Quarter 2010
We have expanded our coverage of Mutual Funds to 60 in our list of Top 50 No Load Mutual Funds, highlighted by Neuberger Berman Real Estate (NBRFX) and Fidelity Blue Chip Growth (FBGRX).
In our List of Exchange Traded Funds we have replaced the iPath Commodity ETNs with ELEMENTS Rogers Intl Commodity Agri ETN (RJA) and ELEMENTS Rogers Intl Commodity ETN (RJI) due to volume considerations
We are comfortable with our current Asset Allocation targets at this time, so there are no changes for the coming quarter.
Mutual Fund Portfolios April 2010
ETF Investment Portfolios April 2010
