2016 has been off to a wild start. Towards the beginning of the year, fears of both a global and domestic recession increased, and substantially pushed stocks lower. But after a brief rally in February, equities were brought back to within shouting distance of the flat line for the year, and the Federal Reserve turned dovish, cutting its forecast for rate hikes this year to two from four. A slightly weak U.S. dollar helped the commodities industry make a nice turnaround.
China’s struggling economy, however, have increased global growth concerns. When the Chinese made yet another currency change, their actions suggested that the second biggest economy in the world was slowing faster than originally feared. This pullback has quickly spread on a global scale.
In addition to China, it seems that the U.S.’s “Bull Run” is having to tackle many hurdles. Despite these unstable waters, investors should know that there are many profitable investment instruments still out there. There are a good number of mutual funds that have sizable gains in each of the last one-, three-, and five-year periods. Moreover, these funds have robust year-to-date returns, surpassing the broader markets’ return.
Funds with Highest Average Returns
Let’s look at five mutual funds that have had the best annualized gains and over the year-to-date and one-, three-, and five-year periods. The year-to-date robust gains prove that these funds were not only strong gainers during the Bull Run, but they have tackled recent economic concerns as well.
These funds carry a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy),as we expect the funds to outperform its peers in the future. Remember, the goal of the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is to guide investors to identify potential winners and losers. Unlike most of the fund-rating systems, the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank is not just focused on past performance, but the likely future success of the fund.
American Century Utilities Investor (BULIX – MF report) seeks current income and long-term capital growth. This fund mainly invests 80% of its assets in stocks of companies engaged in the utilities industry. The fund may also invest up to 20% of its total assets in fixed-income securities. Dividends, if any, are distributed quarterly.
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