Stocks in the United States kept breaking boundaries in 2017 to register one of the biggest bullish runs in the recent past. Such stellar performances were driven primarily by a slew of strong corporate earnings, hopes of an overhaul of the U.S. tax code and more than 3% growth that the economy achieved for two consecutive quarters last year.
Mutual funds also performed exceedingly well last year with large-cap and growth funds leading the gains. These gains were primarily from technology, which turned out to be one of the best performing sectors in 2017. Taking such factors into consideration let’s take a look at five of the best performing mutual funds of 2017.
Growth Funds Overshadow Value Funds
It was also a great year for growth-oriented funds. Such funds topped their value counterparts regardless of market valuations. More exposure to tech holdings bolstered gains for growth funds. The technology funds increased an impressive 40% last year. Needless to say, such gains were driven by strong performances by some of the tech giants such as Apple, Amazon and Facebook, each gaining more than 50% in 2017.
Further, the large-cap funds outshone the small caps. Among the nine Morningstar Style Box categories, the large-growth funds gained 28%, marking the highest average gains, while the small-value funds could garner a paltry 9% i.e. the lowest average gain. This can also be due to strong earnings from big names in the tech world. This also reminds one of the bull-run the markets experienced back in the 1990s, when tech stocks were hot, making value-based stocks lack luster.
What Drove the Gains?
Markets kept gaining traction by a slew of marvelous corporate earnings and optimism around President Trump’s tax reforms. A strengthening economy and better job prospects provided a significant boost to the markets. Additionally, the earnings scenario was quite strong in the first three quarters of 2017, with fourth quarter earnings expected to be up 8.6%. Moreover, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 lowered the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%. Also, the Federal Reserve finally increased its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point. This marked the third rate hike by the Fed in 2017.
