The stock market really seems to be inconsistent of late and I was wondering if any one had any recommendations on mutual fund sectors to avoid for the present.

Just avoid them all I guess.

Well, all the researches about mutual funds had discovered that 90% of them are uncapable of getting higher yields then the index they are investing in so buying a specific ETF might be a GOOD solution.
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you right but I know some people that lost a lot of money trying to invest by their own...so their alternative might be a mutual fund...

by the way, is their had been ever made a research about the legend of " 95% of traders tend to lose all or most of their money eventually" ?

I will more then pleased to read about it.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

I have heard of ETFs and Index funds and maybe that is the way to go.

I don't expect to make a mint but I want more than bank interest as a return while trying to protect the original investment.

I try to avoid mutual funds, as most of them are useless. There are a few investing in commodity markets worth looking at.

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Never spend your money before you have it. -- Thomas Jefferson

I prefer to invest in mutual funds rather than investing directly in stocks. And currently market is down for a while and I think it is the right time for investment as we all know it will up again.

Personally I'd rather invest in stocks directly - I think the US financial sector is absolutely ripe for bargains. While the economic news in the US remains downbeat, most banks have repaired their balance sheets so it's investor fear of defaults on mortgages/loans/credit cards keeping them low. However, the new mortgage rescue package should do a lot to help reverse the foreclosure tide in my opinion.

If you're averse to risk, then if you can find any tracker funds across the US financial sector then I would see this as a half-decent investment - but if you looks at most regional banks and investment banks, they are still trading near 10 year lows at least. I think money put in now and left for a couple of years will leave investors laughing.

I already invested in 11 stocks in this sector last week, and while the ride is volatile so far, I'm working on a longer-term investment plan and stocking to it.

For long term investment plan, it may good to invest directly in stocks as the market is definitely going to rise. But when noone can say.