Insightful Investing

Our Bond Funds were led by the two international funds from PIMCO which benefited from hedging their exposure to the strong US dollar. PIMCO Emerging Markets Bond D (PEMDX) picked up 1.1% while PIMCO Foreign Bond (USD-Hedged) (PFODX) gained 0.9% this month.

Cohen & Steers Realty Shares (CSRSX) topped our charts with a 5.2% return in February. Fidelity Focused Stock (FTQGX) was a close second with a gain of 5.0% for the month.

On the ETF side of the house the big gainer was iShares Dow Jones US Real Estate (IYR) which picked up 5.5% and SPDR MidCap 400 (MDY) which earned investors 5.0% in February.

Our Mutual Fund Portfolios, ETF Investment Portfolios, and Best Fidelity Funds have been updated through December 2009. The Mutual Funds in our Mutual Fund Portfolios are chosen from our 50 Best Mutual Funds. The ETF’s in our ETF Investment Portfolios are chosen from our List of 100 Best Exchange Traded Funds. The investment performance history of our mutual fund portfolios and ETF investment portfolios are tracked on our investment portfolio performance page.

On a monthly basis, it has been a year since the bottom of the financial market crisis. The one year performance numbers for stocks look incredibly good, just the opposite of how horribly bad they looked one year ago. It only too one year for the financial markets to demonstrate the pendulum effect of market cycles. That being said, your portfolio should be close to its asset allocation targets at this time.

Stocks bounced back in February to bring most categories back to or slightly better than break even for the year. Leading the pack was Real Estate, which gained just about all it lost last month by picking up 5.5%. US stocks benefited this month by a flight to quality that lifted the dollar. This action helped push up domestic stock funds, with a 5% gain by Mid Cap Stocks leading the pack for equities.

While the stronger dollar helped US stocks, it once again hurt International Stocks which fell another percentage point to leave the overseas markets down by 5% so far in 2010.

It was a quiet month for Bonds as the average Bond fund picked up only 0.5% in February.