The funds leading the recovery in November
A handful of stocks lifted a range of funds, explains Saltydog Investor.
4th December 2023 14:41
by Douglas Chadwick from ii contributor
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Nearly all the major stock markets around the world went down in August, September and October, so it was a welcome relief to see a rally in November.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng ended the month down 0.4%, but all the other indices we track went up.
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The American markets did particularly well. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went up by 8.8%, the S&P 500 made 8.9%, and the Nasdaq gained 10.7%. The Brazilian Ibovespa beat them all, rising by 12.5%.
| Stock Market Indices | |||||||
| Index | 1 Jan to 31Â March | 1Â April to 30Â June | July 2023 | Aug 2023 | Sept 2023 | Oct 2023 | Nov 2023 |
| FTSE 100 | 2.4% | -1.3% | 2.2% | -3.4% | 2.3% | -3.8% | 1.8% |
| FTSE 250 | 0.4% | -2.7% | 3.9% | -2.8% | -1.8% | -6.5% | 6.7% |
| Dow Jones Ind Ave | 0.4% | 3.4% | 3.3% | -2.4% | -3.5% | -1.4% | 8.8% |
| S&P 500 | 7.0% | 8.3% | 3.1% | -1.8% | -4.9% | -2.2% | 8.9% |
| NASDAQ | 16.8% | 12.8% | 4.0% | -2.2% | -5.8% | -2.8% | 10.7% |
| DAX | 12.2% | 3.3% | 1.9% | -3.0% | -3.5% | -3.7% | 9.5% |
| CAC40 | 13.1% | 1.1% | 1.3% | -2.4% | -2.5% | -3.5% | 6.2% |
| Nikkei 225 | 7.5% | 18.4% | -0.1% | -1.7% | -2.3% | -3.1% | 8.5% |
| Hang Seng | 3.1% | -7.3% | 6.1% | -8.5% | -3.1% | -3.9% | -0.4% |
| Shanghai Composite | 5.9% | -2.2% | 2.8% | -5.2% | -0.3% | -2.9% | 0.4% |
| Sensex | -3.0% | 9.7% | 2.8% | -2.5% | 1.5% | -3.0% | 4.9% |
| Ibovespa | -7.2% | 15.9% | 3.3% | -5.1% | 0.7% | -2.9% | 12.5% |
Data source: Morningstar. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
This change in fortune is also reflected in our latest sector analysis.
Last month, 33 out of the 34 Investment Association (IA) sectors that we monitor went up, compared with six in August, 12 in September, and three in October. The only one that went down was China/Greater China, which fell by 2.4%.
The best-performing sector was Technology & Technology Innovations, up 9.7%, but lots of other sectors did well. The three European sectors, UK Smaller Companies, Latin America, and the Financials and Financial Innovation sector all went up by 6% or more.
Data source: Morningstar. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
When the Nasdaq performs well, you know that the US technology stocks are having a good run and that it is probably being led by the Magnificent Seven - NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL). That was certainly the case in November.
This in turn will help the funds in the Technology and Technology Innovations sector and so it is no surprise that it was the leading sector last month. However, it is not only the technology funds that invest in these high-flying US technology stocks. They can also form a significant part of the holdings in the growth and innovation funds from the North America and Global sectors.
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Looking at the top 10 funds from our analysis in November, three are from the Technology and Technology Innovation sector, but the leading fund, Baillie Gifford American, is actually from the North America sector. Five of the funds are from the Global sector.
The Baillie Gifford American fund has around 40% invested in technology companies and Amazon, Nvidia, and Tesla all feature in its top five largest holdings. This would explain why it always tends to do well when the funds from the Technology and Technology Innovations sector are also doing well.
Saltydog’s top 10 funds in November 2023
| Fund name | Investment Association sector | Monthly return (%) |
| Baillie Gifford American | North America | 17.8 |
| Liontrust Global Technology | Technology and Technology Innovation | 15.6 |
| GAM Disruptive Growth | Global | 14.2 |
| Liontrust Global Innovation | Global | 13.5 |
| Pictet - RoboticsI | Technology and Technology Innovation | 13.4 |
| T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity | Technology and Technology Innovation | 13.0 |
| Premier Miton Pan European Property Share | Property | 12.7 |
| GAM Star Disruptive Groeth | Global | 12.4 |
| Baillie Gifford L/T Global Growth | Global | 12.4 |
| abrdn Global Innovation Equity | Global | 12.3 |
Data source: Morningstar. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.
Although their performance has been impressive over the last month, these funds did fall heavily during the previous three months, and have still not got back to where they were when they peaked towards the end of 2021.
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