INVESTING 2023 FUND MUTUAL GUIDE

TOP FUNDS IN 11 CATEGORIES. IN A YEAR WHEN EVERY CATEGORY FINISHED IN THE RED, FUND INVESTORS HAD TO BE CHOOSY TO FIND WINNERS. LARGE MIDSIZE AND SHALL COMPANY STOCK FUNDS, FOREIGN STOCK FUNDS HYBRID FUNDS SECTOR FUNDS AND MORE

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Few investors are sad to see the back of the past year. Just two trading days into 2022, the stock market began to tumble, dragged down by worries about inflation and rising interest rates, among a litany of other concerns. The S&P 500 index hit bear-market territory, defined as a decline of at least 20%, in June. Though the stock market rallied briefly in both the summer and the fall, the damage was done.

In the final tally for 2022, all broad stock indexes finished in the red. Any pockets of the market that fared better than others simply declined less in value-yes, it was that kind of year. For the 12-month period ending December 31, the S&P 500 lost 18.1%. Small-company stocks, depending on which index you look at, did better or worse. The Russell 2000 index declined 20.4% for the year, but the S&P SmallCap 600, which includes only profitable firms, finished with a 16.1% drop. Shares in midsize companies rallied in the second half of the year and ended 2022 with a 13.1% decline.

Energy proved to be the single bright spot in U.S. markets. The sector climbed 65.7% in 2022. Utilities stocks eked out a 1.6% return for 2022, but every other S&P 500 sector finished in the red. The worst? It wasn't information technology, which dropped 28.2%. Instead, it was its close cousin, communications services, with a 39.9% plunge.

If anything, 2022 will be remembered as the year that value-priced shares counter-overtook their growth-stock parts, at long last. The S&P 500 Value index-the portion of the S&P 500 composed of stocks deemed bargain priced based on various factors-lost just 5%. The S&P 500 Growth index slipped 29%.