The median commingled equity fund outperformed the S&P 500 Stock Index in the third quarter, but trailed the index for the 12 months ended Sept. 30, the PIPER flash report shows. Of the 255 funds reporting for the quarter, the median fund returned 8.3%, while the S&P 500 returned 7.9%. The S&P returned 29.7% for one year, while median equity funds returned 26.4%.
Small-cap growth funds led, with a median return of 13.3% for the quarter and 29.7% for the year. Growth stock funds returned 9.7% for the quarter and 25.7% for the 12-month period; value-oriented funds posted returns of 7.7% for the quarter and 24.3% for the year.
PIPER commingled broad market fixed-income funds matched the Salomon Broad Bond Index for the quarter, with median returns of 1.9% and outperformed it for the year (14.3% vs. 14.1% for the index).
