Notable Exceptions to a Bad Year for Bond Funds

Last week, we examined the carnage in the bond market in 1999. Today, let's have a look at how bond mutual funds fared.

Certainly, it was the worst year in recent memory. But for most categories of bond funds, 1999 wasn't as bad as 1994. And some categories fared much better than others this year.

Risk Returned The best- and worst-performing bond mutual fund categories in 1999*
Category	1999 performance	Best/worst performance (year)
Emerging Markets	24.49%	51.11% (1993)
High-Yield	4.53	37.23 (1991)
Adjustable-Rate Mortgage	4.38	13.12 (1989)
Insured Muni	-4.69	-11.88 (1980)
General U.S. Treasury	-6.17	-6.17 (1999)
Target Maturity	-8.62	-12.93 (1987)
*Excluding money-market, ultra-short obligations, and single-state municipal funds. Source: Lipper.

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