<p>Background: Mutual funds have become an important part of the Swedish deposit market. Savings in mutual funds add up to almost 20 percent of the households'assets. When the pension reform is carried out all employees are going to have savings both in mutual and bond funds. But only if the fund overperforms the market it is worth investing. </p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore if Swedish mutual funds have generated higher returns than market portfolio in the late nineties. </p><p>Research method: Returns of the mutual funds have been examined by four different measures. These are return on investment, the Sharpe ratio, the Treynor ratio and Jensens alpha. </p><p>Results: According to the results from my study only one mutual fund has performed better than the market on the average. Some funds had higher return than expected under some years but no extraordinary performance was found. Even lower return than expected was found in some mutual funds.</p>

Background: Mutual funds have become an important part of the Swedish deposit market. Savings in mutual funds add up to almost 20 percent of the households'assets. When the pension reform is carried out all employees are going to have savings both in mutual and bond funds. But only if the fund overperforms the market it is worth investing. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore if Swedish mutual funds have generated higher returns than market portfolio in the late nineties. Research method: Returns of the mutual funds have been examined by four different measures. These are return on investment, the Sharpe ratio, the Treynor ratio and Jensens alpha. Results: According to the results from my study only one mutual fund has performed better than the market on the average. Some funds had higher return than expected under some years but no extraordinary performance was found. Even lower return than expected was found in some mutual funds.

Bakgrund: Utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad har under de senaste fem åren genererat en avkastning i nivå med aktier. Detta faktum kombinerat bristen på tidigare forskning inom detta område har gjort det intressant att undersöka utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad närmare. Syfte: Syftet är att analysera effektiviteten på utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad. Genomförande: Med hjälp av informationskvoten och Treynorkvoten undersöks om någon av de tre fonderna i urvalet genererat systematisk överavkastning jämfört med marknadsindexet JP Morgan Emerging Market Constrained Index. Ett signifikanstest på 5 % görs för att utreda om avkastningen är skild från 0. Resultat: Ingen av de undersökta fonderna har givit någon avkastning signifikant skild från noll enligt informationskvoten. Dock har INVESCOs fond genererat signifikant underavkastning enligt Treynorkvoten.

<p>Bakgrund: Utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad har under de senaste fem åren genererat en avkastning i nivå med aktier. Detta faktum kombinerat bristen på tidigare forskning inom detta område har gjort det intressant att undersöka utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad närmare. </p><p>Syfte: Syftet är att analysera effektiviteten på utvecklingsländernas obligationsmarknad. </p><p>Genomförande: Med hjälp av informationskvoten och Treynorkvoten undersöks om någon av de tre fonderna i urvalet genererat systematisk överavkastning jämfört med marknadsindexet JP Morgan Emerging Market Constrained Index. Ett signifikanstest på 5 % görs för att utreda om avkastningen är skild från 0. </p><p>Resultat: Ingen av de undersökta fonderna har givit någon avkastning signifikant skild från noll enligt informationskvoten. Dock har INVESCOs fond genererat signifikant underavkastning enligt Treynorkvoten.</p>

Background: Low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to market ratio and low stock prices can give the impression that a stock is “cheap”. Is it through systematic use of these portfolio strategies possible to beat the market index – in other words does financial illusions exist? Purpose: To examine if the Stockholm Stock Exchange is an efficient market. Limitations: The efficiency is tested solely through the chosen portfolio strategies: low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to-market ratio and low stock prices. The research only includes stocks listed on the A-, O-, OTC- and Attract40 lists during the period 1998-01-01 to 2001-12-31. Methodology: With CAPM as an equilibrium model we are examining if the P/e, Book-to-market or the stock price portfolios generate systematic overperformance in comparision to the market index SIXRX. Significance tests on the 5 % level have been performed to determine if the returns are significantly separated from zero. Results: We can establish that none of the chosen portfolio strategies generated any significant systematic overperformance.

<p>Background: Low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to market ratio and low stock prices can give the impression that a stock is “cheap”. Is it through systematic use of these portfolio strategies possible to beat the market index – in other words does financial illusions exist? </p><p>Purpose: To examine if the Stockholm Stock Exchange is an efficient market. Limitations: The efficiency is tested solely through the chosen portfolio strategies: low Price-Earnings ratio, low Book-to-market ratio and low stock prices. The research only includes stocks listed on the A-, O-, OTC- and Attract40 lists during the period 1998-01-01 to 2001-12-31. Methodology: With CAPM as an equilibrium model we are examining if the P/e, Book-to-market or the stock price portfolios generate systematic overperformance in comparision to the market index SIXRX. Significance tests on the 5 % level have been performed to determine if the returns are significantly separated from zero. </p><p>Results: We can establish that none of the chosen portfolio strategies generated any significant systematic overperformance.</p>