Kiplinger's Mutual Fund Rankings
Who's complaining about stock market results for 2019? Not us. Investors in U.S. shares easily shrugged off the threats of a growling bear in late 2018 and pushed the market to record highs throughout 2019. And most foreign markets dazzled. Although they didn't keep pace with U.S. stocks, they posted double-digit gains--a refreshing turnaround from previous years. In all, it was a winning year for stocks (bonds did well, too). Returns here and in the tables below are through December 31.
Though all major U.S. stock groups did well in 2019, large-company shares led the way, as they have for most of the past decade. The large-company Standard & Poor's 500-stock index notched a 31.5% return. Stocks in small and midsize companies didn't disappoint, even though they lagged the S&P 500. The S&P MidCap 400 benchmark of midsize firms gained 26.2%, and the Russell 2000 small-company stock index climbed 25.5%. Technology shares were unstoppable. Information technology was the best-performing sector in the S&P 500 last year, with a 50.3% gain.
Overseas, negative interest rates in Denmark, Germany, Switzerland,
