MutualFundWire.com: S&P's First Select Bond Funds
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Tuesday, November 16, 1999

S&P's First Select Bond Funds


Standard & Poor's today announced the 25 high yield bond funds awarded Select status, in the first fixed-income fund Select list. The latest list is the ninth since March when S&P initiated the Select program in an attempt to compete with Morningstar's pervasive star ranking system.

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The funds selected are those that, according to S&P, show "superior consistent returns and quality of management against the peer group of all domestic high yield bond funds." "After three consecutive good years, however, the high yield market has been more challenging for fund managers in the last two," said Phillip Edwards, managing director at Standard & Poor's responsible for the Select Funds.

Although the funds utilize a number of different strategies and risk controls to achieve their goals, said Edwards, the list of 25 names does contain some of the more conservative funds in the universe.

Overall, most of the funds' portfolios have an average credit rating of B, although some do average a little higher. Most of the funds are highly diversified, often holding between 100 and 250 investments diversified across a number of industry groups. Exceptions to that rule include Columbia High Yield (CMHYX), which generally holds 60 or less, and SEI's multi-manager institutional Managed Fund (SHYAX), which currently holds around 700.

The Select Funds performance, both long-term and short-term, has consistently beaten their peers and benchmark, the Lehman High Yield Bond Index. Year-to-date, the Select Funds have achieved a 2.22% gain, compared to 1.30% for the peer group and 0.08% for the index. In the past year, the Select Funds have gained 7.71% versus gains of 6.41% and 4.34% in the peer group and benchmark respectively.


S&P's High Yield Bond Select Funds
Fund NameTickerFund Group
Colonial High Yield Securities/A,BCOLHX, COHBX Colonial
Columbia High YieldCMHYX Columbia 
Eaton Vance High Income/B,CEVHIX, ECHIXEaton Vance 
Eaton Vance Income Fund of Boston/AEVIBXEaton Vance 
Enterprise High Yield Bond Portfolio/A,BENHYX, ENHBXEnterprise
Federated High Income BondFHIIX Federated
Federated High Yield TrustFHYTXFederated
Invesco Income High YieldFHYPX  Invesco
Janus High YieldJAHYX Janus
Lord Abbett Bond Debenture/ALBNDXLord Abbett
MainStay High Yield Corporate Bond/A,BMHCAX, MKHCX MainStay
MAS High Yield Portfolio/InstlMPHYX MAS
MFS High Income/AMHITX MFS
MSDW Instl. High YieldMSHYXMorgan Stanley Instl.
New England High Income/ANEFHXNew England
Northeast Investors TrustNTHEXNortheast Investors
Pimco High Yield/Admin, Instl.PHYAX, PHIYX Pimco
Safeco High Yield BondSAFHX Safeco
SEI Instl. Managed High Yield SHYAX SEI
Strong High Yield Bond STHYX  Strong
T. Rowe Price High Yield PRHYX T. Rowe Price
TCW Galileo High Yield Bond TGHYX  TCW Galileo
United High Income II/A,Y  UNHHX  United
United High Income/A,Y  UNHIX United
Vanguard Fixed Inc Sec Fd High Yield Corp  VWEHX  Vanguard



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