US funds soar in November while gold prices sink

US-focused funds topped the charts in November following Donald Trump’s presidential victory, while gold and precious metal funds struggled to maintain their previously strong performance.

The average North America-focused fund grew by 7.2 per cent throughout the month, with North American Smaller Companies growing by a whopping 11.9 per cent.

This led the best performing fund in the UK to be the Morgan Stanley INVF US Growth funds, which returned 23.8 per cent throughout November.

“The combination of upwardly moving markets and dollar strength meant US equities had a stranglehold on the top ten,” said Ben Yearsley, director of Fairview Investing.

All of the top 10 funds focused on the US, and only financials managed to beat them out, with the average growing 9.2 per cent throughout the month.

Meanwhile, eight of the worst ten funds in November focused on gold and precious metals, with the worst performer (Charteris Gold & Precious Metals) losing 12.9 per cent.

The only worst performers not focused on commodities were Blackrock GF Latin American (-9.1 per cent), and ARC Time Social Long Income Feeder (-6.9 per cent).

However, Latin America was the worst performing sector overall, losing 4.8 per cent, followed by China (-2.3 per cent), Europe ex UK (-1.3 per cent) and emerging markets (-1.3 per cent).

Yearsley credited “continued worries about European stagnation, or anemic growth as well as potentially the fall out from a US China trade war” for the poor performance of European-focused funds.

Investment trust performance mirrored that of funds, with the North American Smaller Companies sector growing 18.4 per cent at the top. However, Catco Reinsurance topped the investment trust charts (+51.7 per cent) after confirmation that it is winding up imminently.