Investing May 24, 2004

Domestic Equities Continue Leading April Fund Flows

May 24, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Mutual funds in April continued along the same path as they had in March as the funds (including exchange-traded funds) ended April with a $26 billion inflow, according to a Financial Research Corporation (FRC) report.

Reported by

Fred Schneyer

Once again, it was domestic equity funds that led net inflows among fund types, netting $22.5 billion, up $2.7 billion from March (See Mutual Funds Steady in March ), while International/Global came in second place in April with an $8.7 billion intake.

Corporate bond funds gave up ground in April with a $1.2 billion outflow after March’s $2.5 billion intake. Government funds lost $837 million in April while tax-free funds gave up $3.2 billion.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news. 

Per Morningstar fund category, it was Moderate Allocation funds leading the way in April with a $5.4 billion inflow, followed by Large-Cap Value that accumulated $4.1 billion in the month. This was followed by Large-Cap Blend with a $3.2 billion intake, Foreign Large-Cap Blend with a $2.7 billion gain, and Small-Cap Blend with a $2.2 billion add on.

Fund Families

Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments maintained the top fund group spots in April, as in March, with $648 billion and $634 billion, respectively. Behind the two sizeable fund families in the total asset race were:

American Funds – $526 billion
Franklin Templeton Investments – $192 billion
PIMCO Funds – $151 billion.

The five best sellers in April were American Funds with an inflow of $8.6 billion, Vanguard with an increase of $4.6 billion, Barclays Global Investors Funds’ increase of $2.7 billion, T, Rowe Price Investment Services with a $1.87 billion jump and Fidelity Distributors with a $1.84 billion increase.

Top Sellers

The five best selling individual funds in April were: