Despite ongoing inflationary concerns, strains in the banking sector, and a rise in geopolitical tensions during Q1, investors drove up stock prices on rumors that the Federal Reserve Board might pivot to a more dovish monetary policy, driving equity mutual funds to their second consecutive quarterly return—with the average equity fund posting a 5.32% gain in Q1. For the quarter, Refinitiv Lipper’s U.S. World Equity Fund macro-classification (+6.97%) outpaced the other six major equity groups for the second quarter in a row.
Shrugging off the early-March turmoil in the banking sector and another 25-basis point (bp) interest rate hike on March 22—investors cheered dovish comments from the Federal Reserve after its most recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting and signs of moderating inflation, with the average equity fund rising 0.89% for the month.
For the quarter, 90 of Lipper’s 104 equity and mixed-assets fund classifications posted positive returns. In total, 88.24% of all individual equity and mixed-assets funds posted plus-side returns for the quarter.
In this segment, I highlight the first quarter 2023 and March performance results for equity mutual funds and ETFs.
Summary:
- For Q1 2023, equity funds (+5.32% on average) posted their second quarterly gain in a row.
- Lipper’s World Equity Funds macro-classification (+6.97%) outpaced the other six broad-based equity groups, followed by World Sector Equity Funds (+5.70%) and USDE Funds (+5.56%).
- Global Science & Technology Funds (+19.44%) posted the strongest return in the equity universe for Q1.
- Dedicated Short Bias Funds chalked up the largest losses in the equity universe, declining 11.90% for the quarter.
- For March, the average equity fund rose 0.89%.
Click here or the Download Full Report link in the upper right-hand column of this page to download the First Quarter 2023 Equity FundMarket Insight Report: Technology and Growth-Oriented Funds were Back in Vogue for Q1 2023.
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