S&P raises volatility ratings on 10 funds

Standard & Poor's of New York today revised upward its fund volatility ratings on 10 U.S. offshore and European fixed-income funds. Such ratings — which range from S1 (lowest sensitivity) to S6 (highest sensitivity) — measure the relative sensitivity of the total return on a fund's shares, including price, to a broad array of market conditions. Some of the more well-known funds affected include the Goldman Sachs Ultra-Short Duration Government Fund advised by Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP of New York, a unit of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The fund’s less-than-10% exposure to non-agency adjustable-rate mortgages was a “considerable factor” leading to increased return volatility and an increase in the fund's volatility rating to S2, from S1, S&P said in a statement. The iShares iBoxx $ High-Yield Corporate Bond Fund, an exchange traded fund from Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco, saw its volatility rating increase to S5, from S4, because of the increased volatility of high-yield instruments in its portfolio. And the SPDR Barclays Capital High-Yield Bond ETF from State Street Global Advisors of Boston saw its volatility rating adjusted to S5, from S4, because of increased volatility in its portfolio of junk bonds.