Data collected by Morningstar Research shows that most mutual funds posted losses last month, with 36 of the 42 Morningstar indices in the red in September and 38 down for the third quarter. The company notes that 14 of its indices dropped by 5% or more during the period.

Morningstar's preliminary performance report shows that the worst performers in September were equity funds focused on natural resources and energy companies, which dropped by 8.6% and 8.3% in September and by 21.1% and 19.1% in the quarter respectively.  Although the Greater China Equity Fund index only decreased by 0.1% in September it was still the third-worst performer for the quarter, dropping by 16.4% in the period due to losses incurred in August.

In fact, Morningstar says that the only long-term fund categories that did not lose money in September were Real Estate Equity (up by 1.6%), Canadian Inflation-Protected Fixed Income (up by 0.5%), and Asia Pacific ex-Japan Equity (up by 0.1%). For the third quarter of 2015, the only category apart from money market funds that posted a positive result was Global Fixed Income, which increased by a modest 0.5%.