Fun Fund Facts That Will Make You Think

Our past columns that simply highlight noteworthy numbers or statistics from the fund world have proved popular with readers. We understand; sometimes it's refreshing to just peruse some snappy snippets and then deal with more complex topics another time. With that in mind, here's another dose of fun facts from the fund front.

When Closed Doesn't Mean Closed
Amount of assets in  Fidelity Diversified International (FDIVX) just before it announced it would close to new buyers in October 2004: $18.7 billion. Its current size, according to Fidelity's Web site: $48.3 billion.

When Closed Doesn't Mean Closed, Part II
Amount of assets in  Dodge & Cox Stock (DODGX) just before it announced it would close to new buyers in January 2004: $29 billion. Its current size: $68 billion.

Bill Nygren Is Back
After several years of unimpressive performance, Bill Nygren's  Oakmark Fund (OAKMX) recovered with a stellar 18.3% gain in 2006. That was good enough to beat the S&P 500 by more than 2 percentage points and land in the sixth percentile in the large-blend category.

Bill Nygren Is Still Struggling
Nygren's other fund,  Oakmark Select (OAKLX), which also had suffered through several years of lackluster returns, gained just 13.6% in 2006, lagging the S&P 500 by more than 2 percentage points and landing in the large-blend category's 62nd percentile. Oddly enough, Nygren uses the exact same strategy at both funds. The difference? Oakmark Select is much more concentrated, and in 2006 that worked to its disadvantage.

Hey, That Wasn't Supposed to Happen
Over the four-year stretch leading up to Feb. 28, 2006,  Fidelity Japan Smaller Companies (FJSCX) amassed a remarkable cumulative gain of 165%. Investors poured money into the fund, especially in the latter stages of that run, prompting Fidelity to close it as of that date. Over the next 12 months it suffered a loss of more than 15%.

One
The average emerging-markets bond fund is now yielding just 1 percentage point more than the average money-market fund.

Looking to the East
Between mid-1998 and mid-2004, no fund companies launched a fund or ETF that focused on China/Hong Kong. Since mid-2004, nine have been launched, including one announced just last week.

32%
Average return for the 12 months through February 2007 for Pacific/Asia funds that exclude Japan.

1%
Average return over the same period for funds that focus specifically on Japan.