Many top U.S. funds still making up lost ground

Schonberg calls himself "more optimistic than most" about the economy's outlook, noting there's a lot of cash waiting for signs of a rebound.

"We're in a situation where things are OK and if they start to improve, profit margins are going to explode because companies are still prepared for the worst," he said.

Among bond funds, meanwhile, first-half top performance honors goes to an unlikely candidate: Eaton Vance's Floating Rate Advantage Fund, which invests in the secured debt of companies and was up 42.1 percent in the first half.

Traditionally such funds expect to earn around 2 percent a year. Last year was tough for a predecessor version of the fund, down about 40 percent, as investors in bank loans came to expect a rapid rise in defaults.

But that hasn't happened, and in many bankruptcies the fund has recovered all its stake, said manager Craig Russ. For example, Russ said the firm just got back nearly all the $8.2 million invested in General Motors following its bankruptcy.

Still, Russ said he doesn't expect the economy to recover much before next year.

"We're in a high-default rate environment and we'll be in it for a while," he said.

Among the asset classes tracked by Lipper, world equity funds have done best for the year, rising 15.6 percent through June after falling 45.8 percent last year.

Latin American funds rose the most, 45.8 percent versus a decline of 57.3 percent last year, while funds investing in Asian countries aside from Japan rose 35.8 percent, compared with a loss of 49.8 percent last year.

The funds swung so dramatically, Tjornehoj said, because last year people felt that without an export-led recovery in Asia those countries economies would fall; now signs the U.S. economy will resume growth this year has led to what he called a "relief rally" in Asian stocks. But ultimately that sort of volatility can only discourage investors from coming back into markets, he said.

"If you don't know if you'll be up 70 percent or down 70 percent that's a crazy market to be in, it's unlikely people will participate in a market that is that frenetic," he said.