FYI: Ignore fluctuations and look at the total return of bond funds.
When it comes to bonds, the relationship between prices and actual returns isn’t quite as simple as that same relationship in the stock market.
Annual nominal bond returns can be positive or negative regardless of rising or falling prices. Over the past 37 years, bond prices have generally risen and each cyclical drop in prices — dubbed as a rising-rate environment — has been mistaken for the bottom.
This characteristic of bonds only confuses many retail investors, who may be approaching their bond investments in the wrong way, or for the wrong reason.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/heres-what-everybody-gets-wrong-about-bond-funds-2018-02-16/print
