Now that we have moved to real money portfolios, we no longer have to wait until the later in the month to report on how the model portfolios and individual holdings have performed.
In August our Conservative portfolio was down -0.8% while our Aggressive portfolio was down 1.8%. Stocks sank last month and bonds were strong once again. The S&P 500 index fund was down 4.53% while the total bond market index fund was up 1.61%. Smaller cap stocks were hit hard, down 7.4%. The Nasdaq was in equally hot water, off about 6.2%. This took most stock mutual funds down more than the S&P 500 as the S&P 500 tends to be larger cap oriented than most funds.
Investment grade bonds did much better than high-yield bonds as investors started to worry about the economy once again, and the ability of the financially wobbly to pay back their debts. High yield bonds dropped around 1.5% while investment grade corporate bonds were up about 2.5%.
The best performing stock fund categories in August were precious metals funds, utilities, and real estate, all up during a down stock month. The worst performing were financial, small cap value, and small growth.
High (and low) lights from our funds in August:
52.2% of our funds beat the S&P 500 or total bond market index. Our average return was better than the index by 1.03%
Good Month:
Our long/short fund PowerShares DB Commodity Double Short (DEE) climbed 2.83% in August, better than the an S&P 500 index fund by 7.4%
American Century Utility Income (BULIX) slipped -0.37% in August, beating the S&P 500 index fund by 4.2% as the appeal of utility stocks grew as bond yields fell and investors worried about higher risk stocks.
Vanguard Telecom ETF (VOX) fell -1.04% in August as telecom stocks had a good month.
Our healthcare ETF Health Care Select SPDR (XLV) fell -1.65% in August, better than the S&P 500 index fund by 2.9%.
Our other international diversified fund UMB Scout Worldwide (UMBWX) fell -3.10% in August, better than the an S&P 500 index fund by 1.4%.
Small cap growth fund Janus Triton T (JATTX) fell -3.97% in August, better than the an S&P 500 index fund by 0.6%, a strong month given that smaller cap growth stocks fell hard last month.
Financial services fund Royce Financial Services (RYFSX) fell -4.44% in August, better than the an S&P 500 index fund by 0.1%, considering smaller cap stocks and financial stocks did poorly last month.
PowerShares DB US Dollar Index (UUP) climbed 1.60% as the U.S. dollar strengthened.
Bad Month:
Our large cap growth fund PRIMECAP Odyssey Growth (POGRX) sank -6.82% in August, worse than the stock market by -2.3% on weakness in tech and growth stocks.
Satuit Capital Micro Cap (SATMX) sank -6.44% in August, worse than the an S&P 500 index fund by -1.9% as smaller cap stocks fell harder than the market.
Our large cap value fund Homestead Value Fund (HOVLX) sank -6.25% in August, worse than the S&P 500 index fund by -1.7%.
Our Europe fund Vanguard European ETF (VGK) fell -4.58% in August, worse than the an S&P 500 index fund by -0.1%, but not too bad given the big month for this fund in July.
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Now that we have moved to real money portfolios, we no longer have to wait until the later in the month to report on how the model portfolios and individual holdings have performed.
In August our Conservative portfolio was down -0.8% while our Aggressive portfolio was down 1.8%. Stocks sank last month and bonds were strong once again. The S&P 500 index fund was down 4.53% while the total bond market index fund was up 1.61%. Smaller cap stocks were hit hard, down 7.4%. The Nasdaq was in equally hot water, off about 6.2%. This took most stock mutual funds down more than the S&P 500 as the S&P 500 tends to be larger cap oriented than most funds.
Investment grade bonds did much better than high-yield bonds as investors started to worry about the economy once again, and the ability of the financially wobbly to pay back their debts. High yield bonds dropped around 1.5% while investment grade corporate bonds were up about 2.5%.
The best performing stock fund categories in August were precious metals funds, utilities, and real estate, all up during a down stock month. The worst performing were financial, small cap value, and small growth.
High (and low) lights from our funds in August:
52.2% of our funds beat the S&P 500 or total bond market index. Our average return was better than the index by 1.03%
Good Month:
Bad Month: