Oil worries hurt U.S. stock funds, S&P report says

Oil worries hurt U.S. stock funds, S&P report says

NEW YORK — .

Each of the nine styles of domestic equity funds tracked by S&P finished the month in negative territory, with an average loss of 2.21%. Small-cap funds had some of the largest decreases, with the average small-cap growth fund down 3.23% and the average small-cap value fund down 3.07%.

"It seems like fear was taking over during the month," said Rosanne Pane, S&P mutual fund strategist.

"When that happens, people tend to move away from some of the smaller companies and favor large companies, where they believe there's more security."

BOSTON — Large-cap growth equity funds outperformed their value counterparts for the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to a quarterly mutual fund review by Mercer Investment Consulting. For longer periods, including year-to-date, 1-, 5- and 10-year periods, value funds continue to hold the lead.

For the third quarter, the median large-cap growth equity fund in Mercer's universe of 459 funds posted a 4.7% gain, better than the benchmark Russell 1000 Growth index's 4% gain for the same period.

By contrast, the median large-cap value equity fund in Mercer's 365-fund universe returned 3.5%, below the Russell 1000 Value index's 3.9% gain.

Among small-cap funds, the median small-cap growth fund in Mercer's universe of 269 funds gained 5.7%, below the benchmark Russell 2000 Growth index's 6.3% gain.

The median small-cap value fund in Mercer's 114-fund universe gained 4.6%, well above the Russell 2000 Value index's 3.1% advance.