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American Funds, proclaimed as one of the largest active fund managers, perhaps wants to forget its third quarter performance – the sooner the better. The handful of flimsy gainers compared to the horde of mutual funds that ended in the red painted a dismal picture of the quarter. None of the American Funds mutual funds could even reach a 2% gain in the third quarter, whereas 371 funds ended with at least a 5% loss. As for the broader markets, the key benchmarks suffered their worst loss in four years. In the third quarter, the Dow, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq declined 7.6%, 7% and 7.4%, respectively. In fact, calling the third quarter a bloodbath will not be far from the truth. Just 17% of the mutual funds managed to finish in the green in the third quarter. This was a slump from 41% in the second quarter, which was also a sharp fall from 87% of the funds that ended in the positive territory in the first quarter. However to justify American Funds’ dismal performance in relation with the broader markets will only be partially right. American Funds even failed to beat the modest-to-poor performances from key peers like Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Vanguard or T. Rowe Price mutual funds. American Funds in Q3: Comparative Study As mentioned, American Funds failed to beat its major peers. The best gain from this fund family was a meager 1.7% scored by the American Funds U.S. Government Securities Fund® Retirement (MUTF: RGVFX ) . This 1.7% gain was not only far short of the best gains achieved by key peers, but was also somewhere around the average gains that mutual funds from fund families like Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Vanguard, BlackRock or T. Rowe Price scored. In a quarter ravaged by headwinds, mutual funds from the Vanguard Group gave a decent performance. Its best gain hit 8.4%, achieved by the Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury Index Fund Inst (MUTF: VEDTX ) . Separately, Fidelity’s top-gainer, the Fidelity Spartan® Long Term Trust Bond Index Fund (MUTF: FLBAX ) , could post only 5.5% return. In fact, the only other fund that managed a 5% plus gain from this lineup is Investor class fund, the Fidelity Spartan® Long Term Trust Bond Index Fund Inv (MUTF: FLBIX ) . For T. Rowe Price, the T. Rowe Price U.S. Treasury Long Term Fund No Load (MUTF: PRULX ) gained 5.1% and was the best performer. However, it was the only fund in the 180 T. Rowe Price assortment we studied, that posted a 5% plus return. Franklin Templeton could put up a modest show in the tough third quarter. The Franklin Real Estate Securities Fund Retirement (MUTF: FSERX ) was the best gainer among the Franklin Templeton mutual funds, which gained only 3.4%. BlackRock’s best performer was the BlackRock Real Estate Securities Fund Inst (MUTF: BIREX ) , which gained 2.4%. The average gain from mutual funds that finished in the green for Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Vanguard and T. Rowe Price were 1.2%, 1.2%, 1.9% and 1.3%, respectively. Of the 629 American Funds mutual funds we studied, only 135 funds finished in the green with paltry gains. The average gain for these 135 funds was just over 1%. None of the funds could post above 2% return and 68 out of these 135 funds finished with sub 1% gain. Meanwhile, 493 American Funds mutual funds finished in the red. The average loss for these 493 funds was 6.6%. While 371 funds lost over 5%, 60 funds lost at least 10%. The biggest loser in the third quarter was the American Funds New World Fund® C (MUTF: CNWCX ) , which slumped 12.4%. In comparison, of the 626 funds we studied in the second quarter, 232 funds had finished in the green while 2 funds had break-even returns. The average gain for these 232 funds was 1.41%. This compared favorably to the average loss of -0.84% for the 392 funds in negative territory. (Note: The numbers include same funds of different classes) Top 15 American Funds Mutual Funds in Q3 Below we present the top 15 American Funds mutual fund performers of Q3 2015: Fund Name Objective Description Q3 Total Return Q3 % Rank vs Obj YTD Total Return % Yield Beta vs S&P 500 Load American Funds US Govt Sec R5 Government 1.72 5 2.43 1.39 -0.03 N American Funds High Inc Muni Bnd F2 Muni Natl 1.67 14 2.34 4.07 0.05 N American Funds Tax Exempt of CA A Muni CA 1.66 41 1.84 3.23 -0.01 Y American Funds US Govt Sec A Government 1.64 7 2.19 1.1 -0.03 Y American Funds High Inc Muni Bnd A Muni Natl 1.63 16 2.22 3.91 0.05 Y American Funds Mortgage A Govt-Mtg 1.56 3 2.08 1.04 -0.01 Y American Funds T/E Bd of America A Muni Natl 1.44 31 1.58 3.13 Y American Funds Tax Exempt of VA A Muni State 1.4 42 1.13 2.94 0.01 Y American Funds Tax Exempt Of NY A Muni NY 1.34 49 1.26 2.72 0.02 Y American Funds Tax Exempt of MD A Muni State 1.24 61 1.02 3.03 0.08 Y American Funds Tax-Exempt Prsrv A Muni Natl 0.99 67 0.98 2.29 Y American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer A Corp-Inv 0.96 9 0.85 1.85 -0.01 Y American Funds Bnd Fd of Amer 529A Corp-Inv 0.93 10 0.78 1.76 -0.01 Y American Funds Ltd Term T/E Bond A Muni Natl 0.91 70 0.95 2.3 -0.01 Y American Funds Intm Bd Fd Amer R5 Corp-Inv 0.9 12 1.79 1.45 -0.03 N Note: The list excludes the same funds with different classes, and institutional funds have been excluded. Funds having minimum initial investment above $5000 have been excluded. Q3 % Rank vs. Objective* equals the percentage the fund falls among its peers. Here, 1 being the best and 99 being the worst. Morningstar data showed many sub Municipal fund categories, such as Muni California Long, Muni Pennsylvania and Muni New York Long, featured in the top performers’ list for the third quarter. However, the gains were modest, with Muni California Long giving the best performance with a 1.7% gain in the quarter. Long Government funds category was the second-best gainer in the third quarter. According to Morningstar, Bear Market funds category gained 13.1% and Long Government was next in line with gains of 4.3%. So we see that among the American Funds’ best 15 gainers, the Government category is the top gainer. However, Municipal Bond funds dominate the top 15 gainers’ list. Among the Municipal funds, the American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund® (MUTF: AHMFX ) , the American Funds Tax-Exempt Fund California® A (MUTF: TAFTX ) and the American High-Income Municipal Bond Fund® A (MUTF: AMHIX ) sports a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Meanwhile, the American Funds Tax Exempt Bond Fund® A (MUTF: AFTEX ) holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2 (Buy). Municipal funds the American Funds Tax Exempt Virginia Fund A (MUTF: TFVAX ) and the American Funds Tax-Exempt Fund of New York® A (MUTF: NYAAX ) carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #3 (Hold). However, while the American Funds Tax Exempt Maryland Fund A (MUTF: TMMDX ) and the American Funds Tax-Exempt Preservation Portfolio A (MUTF: TEPAX ) carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #4 (Sell), The American Funds Limited Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund® A (MUTF: LTEBX ) has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #5 (Strong Sell). Coming to the Government funds, top gainer the American Funds US Govt Sec R5 and fifth-placed the American Funds U.S. Government Securities Fund® A (MUTF: AMUSX ) carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #2. However, Government-Mortgage fund the American Funds Mortgage Fund® A (MUTF: MFAAX ) holds a Sell rating. Original Post Scalper1 News
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