Try These Correction-Resistant Funds

With the stock market lingering in a stasis between "correction" and "bear market," mutual fund investors are likely to be looking around for vehicles with equity exposure for participation in case the bulls prevail, while at the same time offering some resistance to the southerly course that prices have taken in recent months.

Funds that moved ahead at an annual pace of at least 6% during the five-year period ended in October -- which on a month-end-basis corresponded with the 2002-07 bull market -- appear in an accompanying table. Of particular interest, however, is that each of the equity and hybrid funds on the list has managed to maintain upward movements despite the severe downdrafts of the past three months.

Ten of the 14 "correction resistors" in the table rewarded investors with double-digit annual returns during the five-year bull market. All 10 achieved returns surpassing the annualized 14.35% total annual reinvested return of the S&P 500 for the period.

In fact, the average annualized return for all 14 funds in the group was seven percentage points higher than that of the S&P. ...