Techs Tops In January But Beware!

Monthly Mutuals Analysis
Dateline: Feb. 15, 2001

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January saw the NASDAQ and the TSE 300 both soar, driven by a resurgence in technology stocks. But as we know, February gave it all back again. Nortel Networks, for example, started the year at $48.15, climbed to a high of $60.95 on January 19th (a gain of 26.6%) and then proceeded to give it all back closing at a 52 week low of $45.01 on Valentine's Day. The NASDAQ is in the red for the year-to-date and the TSE 300 is damn close.

The point of this is that the January mutual fund numbers show technology funds leading the pack and this should be taken with a large grain of salt. The market giveth and the market taketh away. One month does not a bull market make.

Looking at the Top 25 Funds for one month as tallied at The Vancouver Sun website we see that an amazing twenty of the funds are technology funds (including telecom and communications funds). The other five are two demographic trend funds, two emerging market funds and one NASDAQ based index fund. The two demographic funds are heavily invested in technology as is the index fund.

The watchword for now is caution. Some moderate exposure to technology may be in order, but don't overdo it. Right now some exposure to the leading sectors is recommended. They aren't reflected in the monthly mutual fund standings, but they are reflected in the new highs that I chart here weekly. (See my weekly Break Out Report.) These sectors are financial services and energy.

Here are the Top Ten Funds for January:

Rank Fund Type 1 Month 3 Month 1 Year
1 Acker Finley QSA e-business Fund Technology 31.50% 3.64% -22.10%
2 AIC Global Developing Technology Fund U$ Technology 25.52% -1.57% n/a
3 AIC Global Developing Technology Fund Technology 25.45% -3.14% n/a
4 AIC RSP Global Developing Technology Fund Technology 24.33% 2.20% n/a
5 IRIS Nasdaq 100 RSP Index Fund Index 22.06% n/a n/a
6 Altamira Global Telecommunications Fund Technology 19.81% -7.73% n/a
7 National Bank Global Technologies RSP Fund Technology 19.11% -11.15% -18.97%
8 National Bank Global Technologies Fund Technology 19.07% -10.92% -18.10%
9 National Bank Emerging Markets Fund Emerging Markets 18.90% 18.54% n/a
10 Sentry Select E-Commerce and Internet Tech 1999 Technology 18.66% -12.17% -11.81%

Power Performers

Definitions
Power Performers
Those mutual funds returning better than 20% for each of the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year periods.

Super Power Performers
Those mutual funds returning better than 25% for each of the 1 year, 3 year and 5 year periods.

Weakness continues to be reflected in my Power Performer charts. There are still only two funds beating a 20% return for each of the one year, three year and five year periods. And, yes, they are still the Resolute Growth Fund and the AGF International Value Fund.

There are signs that the market has bottomed, though that is still unsettled. The months going forward will be interesting to watch.

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