Equity Funds Post Fifth Consecutive Quarterly Gain in Q2, with an Average 6.36% Return

U.S. investors pushed equity funds to their fifth consecutive quarter of plus-side performance in Q2 2021 as they focused on the reopening of global economies, a commitment by the Federal Reserve Board to keep its easy money policy intact, and a goldilocks U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for May. For Q2 2021, the average equity fund posted a 6.36% return, with Lipper’s Commodities Funds macro-classification (+11.99%) outpacing the other six major equity groups for the first quarter in 20.

For the quarter, 102 of Lipper’s 104 equity and mixed-assets fund classifications posted positive returns. In total, 97% of all individual equity and mixed-assets funds posted plus-side returns for the quarter.

In this segment, I highlight the second quarter and June 2021 performance results for equity mutual funds and ETFs.

Summary:

• For Q2 2021, equity funds (+6.36% on average) posted their fifth straight quarter of plus-side returns.
• Lipper’s Commodities Funds macro-classification (+11.99%) outperformed the other six broad-based equity groups, followed by Sector Equity Funds (+8.30%) and World Sector Funds (+7.86%).
• The Commodities Energy Funds (+25.82%) classification posted the strongest returns in the equity universe for Q2.
• The Domestic Sector Equity Funds and Global Sector Equity Funds macro-classifications housed two of the four best performing classifications in the equity universe for Q2, with Energy MLP Funds (+18.12%) posting the strongest return of the group.
• The USDE Funds macro-classification was propped up by strong quarterly performance from Equity Leverage Funds (+12.22%).