FRC: Funds Absorb $27 Billion in New Assets In June
Once again it was domestic equities that lead net inflows among fund types, netting $20.5 billion, while corporate bond funds held onto a distant second place after taking in $6.1 billion. June’s other inflow was recorded in international/global bond funds, gaining $1.5 billion new assets, according to a Financial Research Corporate (FRC) report.
However, unlike May that saw all fund types in the left-hand side of the flow ledger (See May Saw $20.4 Billion in Fund Inflow ), June saw money pulled out of government and tax-free bond funds, with outflows of $611 million and $5 million, respectively. For the year though, all fund objectives have managed to keep the red pens in the desk drawer, recording an aggregate net flow of $112.1 billion dollars, as 2003 has yet to see a month of fund net outflows.
Per Morningstar fund category, it was moderate allocation that was king of the June hill, accumulating $3.1 billion in the month. This was closely pursued by high yield bond funds, gaining $3 billion in terms of net flows. The rest of the top five was living large cap, literally, composed of:
- Large Value – $2.8 billion
- Large Growth – $2.5 billion
- Large Blend – $2.2 billion
Family Affair
Bucking a two-month trend of identical lists, the top fund groups were altered a bit. Unchanged were the Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments once again coming up head of the class in terms of total assets, with $535 billion and $470 billion, respectively. Behind the two sizeable fund families in the total asset race were:
- American Funds – $384 billion
- Franklin Distributors Inc – $164 billion
- PIMCO Funds – $134 billion.
June’s best-sellers list was also shuffled from the previous month, even though American Funds once again held the month’s top spot, recording net flows of $5.5 billion, followed by a photo finish for place and show between Fidelity’s $3.74 billion and Vanguard’s $3.64 billion. Rounding out the top five in monthly net inflows were PIMCO ($2 billion) and Dodge & Cox Funds ($1.2 billion).
Year-to-date, the top five list showed American Funds on top with $24.7 billion in net flow, followed by:
- Vanguard – $18.1 billion
- PIMCO – $15 billion
- Fidelity – $11.6 billion
- Dodge & Cox – $5.8 billion
Individual Excellence
American Funds dominated the top selling individual funds for the month. Holding spots one through four in June’s net flows were:
- American Funds Growth Fund – $1.2 billion
- American Funds Cap Inc Bldr – $1 billion
- American Inc Fund – $916 million
- American Funds Balanced Fund – $684 million
It was not until the fifth spot, that another fund family was invited to the ball – $676 million taken in by Dodge & Cox’s Stock Fund.