Finance is hot ...
From Investor's Business Daily
The media is already starting to examine which sectors best rewarded funds and which were dogs. The news may also be a predictor of which fund-types will be launching most frequently in the second half of 2001. Investor's Business Daily reports that the top sector is insurance (will that lead to the Monument Insurance fund?). Funds investing in insurance include: Century Shares Trust, John Hancock Financial Industries Fund, Fidelity Select Insurance and T. Rowe Price Financial Services.

As is Value ...
From Wall Street Journal
Meanwhile, the Journal picks value stocks as the winners of 2000 (the Monument Value Fund, maybe?). This article also points out the risks of buying what is now hot with the story of New Jersey homemaker Mary Lynn Hodges who put her money into the Janus Global Technology Fund last January. The fund is down 28.6 percent this year. As a group, value funds are up roughly 30 percent so far this year, with the big gainers being Sequoia, Vontobel U.S. Value, Longleaf Partners and Oakmark Fund. Still, value funds are seeing redemptions, which may mean that the word of their hot hand is not yet out.

As is Mid-Cap ...
From Dow Jones Newswire
Another winning sector, according to Dow Jones Newswires, is mid-cap. Funds specializing in this area are up 8.58 percent during the past 12 months, based on Lipper Analytics' data. Funds mentioned include: American Century Heritage Fund, Pioneer Mid-Cap Fund, Invesco Dynamics Fund, John Hancock Mid Cap Growth Fund and MFS Mid-Cap Growth Fund.

Tech is Not ...
From Miami Herald
Knight Ridder News Service focuses on this year's loser: Technology mutual funds. These funds are paced to lose money for investors for the first time in 15 years, it claims. The 163 tech mutual funds are down 14.47 percent so far, based on Lipper data. The piece mentions Amerindo Technology and PBHG Technology & Communications as being hard hit. The article also flags better performing tech funds, namely: Fidelity Select Technology, Invesco Technology and Red Oak Select Technology Fund,

Neither are Focused Funds ...
From Dallas Morning News
One hot fund-type from last year, focused funds, comes under some scrutiny. The Dallas Morning News taps Morningstar research to shoe that these funds "typically outperformed or underperformed peers by large margins." Not that widely variant performance should really come as a surprise. "Concentration produces extreme performance, but it isn't actually better on average," a Morningstar analyst is quoted as saying.

Investors Flee to Cash
From Barrons'
Investors may net be as partial to stock funds in the future as they have been in the past, reports the Wall Street Journal. Fund holders redeemed a net $8.5 billion ending the week prior to Thanksgiving, according to estimates by AMG Data Services. The service says this was the largest weekly outflow of the year. Furthermore, it estimates that money-market inflows have reached levels not seen since the end of 1998.

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