The first half of 2004 was neither good nor bad for most investors, according to mutual fund research firm Morningstar Inc., Chicago:
Domestic equity funds were up about 3.5 percent, on average. Among the major categories of stock funds, the best performance was turned in by those funds holding small-company value (bargain-priced) stocks.
Taxable bond funds lost as much in principal as they paid out in interest. (Some interest rates rose, which drove down the price of bonds.) Net of these payouts and losses, the average bond fund broke even.
Only a few sub-categories of funds were far from break-even. Japanese stock funds and domestic natural resources (energy) funds did the best, gaining 10-11 percent. The big loser was the category of precious metals (mainly gold) funds, which lost 19 percent after three straight years of sparkling returns.
Going forward, it
