Fund performance
- Columbia Select Short Corporate Income Fund Institutional Class shares returned 0.11% for the three months ending March 31, 2026.
- The fund’s primary benchmark, the Bloomberg U.S. 1–5 Year Corporate Index, returned 0.09% for the same period.
Market overview
The first quarter of 2026 was dominated by the outbreak of armed conflict between the United States/Israel and Iran, which began on February 28. The conflict effectively disrupted transit through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for roughly 20% of global oil supply. Diplomatic signals have been mixed throughout the quarter — the U.S. has reported productive indirect talks while Iran has rejected direct negotiations and asserted sovereignty over the Strait. President Trump noted that discussions with Iran are ongoing and that the U.S. holds “all the cards.” The emphasis on further escalation before any resolution suggests markets may face continued geopolitical uncertainty well into the second quarter.
U.S. equity markets struggled under the weight of geopolitical risk and rising rates for much of the quarter before rallying on March 31, when indices saw their best single-day gains since May 2025 on hopes for a resolution to the conflict. Even with the late rally, the S&P 500 Index finished the first quarter down 4.33%, its worst first-quarter performance since 2022. The Nasdaq Composite fell -7.11%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average -3.58%, and the Russell 2000 Index eked out a 0.89% gain.
On the economic data front, fourth-quarter 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) growth was revised down to just 0.7% annualized, a sharp step-down from the 4.4% pace in the third quarter, though full-year 2025 growth still came in at a respectable 2.1%. The Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now tracker for first quarter 2026 was 1.9% as of April 1. March employment data was better than consensus expectations, with nonfarm payrolls rising 178,000 (versus 78,000 consensus, although February was revised down to -133,000 from -92,000) while the
