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Investing December 14, 2009
Bond Funds Continue Pull on Assets
December 14, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Flows into bond funds in November, although somewhat off from the blistering pace of the prior three months, were very robust at $38 billion, according to Strategic Insight, an Asset International company.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
SI projects full-year
2009 net flows into traditional bond funds (including VA bond funds) will come
in at an all-time record of almost $400 billion (with an additional $50 billion
or so into bond ETFs). The company said this is a remarkable number considering
that neither bond fund nor stock fund flows have ever individually topped $300
billion in any one year (see SI: Bond Funds On Track for Record Inflows in 2009).
In contrast,
notwithstanding a 4.8% rise in NAVs on average (asset-weighted) in November,
stock/hybrid funds received only small inflows, because of continued concerns
about the sustainability of the global economic and stock market revival,
according to SI’s Highlights of November
2009 Mutual Fund Industry Results. Although flows into international equity
funds remained stable at recent modest levels, totaling $12 billion in
November, U.S. equity funds suffered (modest) net outflows for the third
consecutive month, yielding an overall equity fund net flow total of just about
$8 billion.
Assets in money-market
mutual funds, where investors are currently earning near-zero yields, declined
by an additional $51 billion in November. Flows into target-date funds-of-funds
gathered strength in November, rising to $4.2 billion, and flows into
risk-based lifecycle funds-of-funds were positive but small, at just under $200
million, in aggregate.
ETF/ETN flow volumes
doubled to $15 billion in November, and were driven by diversified Emerging
Market, Gold, Natural Resources, Inverse-exposure, S&P 500 Index funds, and
China Region funds. Year-to-date through November, ETFs/ETNs have collectively
garnered an estimated $87 billion in net new flows.
Among
smaller-size managers of long-term funds, those that led in total long-term
fund flows for the month were TCW, Van Eck, Rafferty Asset Management, Lazard
Asset Management, Manning & Napier Advisors, Sentinel Asset Management, Matthews
Asian Funds, International Value Advisors, and Claymore Advisors.
Among the largest
firms (firms with more than $20 billion in long-term fund assets under
management), those garnering the most long-term fund flows were Vanguard ($10.6
billion); PIMCO/Allianz Global ($7.6 billion); Barclays Global Investors ($2.9
billion); JPMorgan ($2.9 billion); Franklin Templeton ($2.5 billion); T. Rowe
Price ($2.1 billion); State Street Global Advisors ($1.2 billion); and BlackRock
($1.2 billion).