Domestic small-cap commingled stock funds took the gold for the first half of the year, with a median return of 12.5%, according to PIPER's flash report. The S&P 500 stock index returned 10.1% for the first half of the year; the Russell 2000 index returned 10.4% for the period. For the quarter ended June 30, the median small-cap fund returned 6.8%, vs. 4.5% for the S&P 500 and 5% for the Russell 2000; for the year, the median small-cap fund returned 26.5%, vs. 26% for the S&P 500 and 23.9% for the Russell 2000.
Growth stock funds outperformed value funds; the median growth stock fund returned 5.1% for the quarter and 25.6% for the year; the median value fund, 3.4% for the quarter and 23% for the year.
In bonds, limited duration commingled funds led the pack, with a median return of 1.4% for the first half of the year. The median overall commingled bond fund lost 0.6% for the first six months and the Salomon Broad Bond Index lost 1.26%. For the quarter and the year, the median limited duration bond fund returned 1.1% and 5.4%, respectively. The 90-day T-bill returned 1.3% and 5.5%, respectively; the Salomon Broad returned 0.5% for the quarter and 5% for the year.
