Investing April 29, 2002

March Money Floods Equity Funds

April 29, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The combined assets of America's mutual funds rose by $142.67 billion to $7.067 trillion in March, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI)'s survey of the mutual fund industry.
Reported by

Some $29.28 billion in new money flooded into stock funds, at the expense of money market funds as investors, anticipating a pick-up in the stock market, sold off their cash positions.

The inflow into equity funds was significantly higher than the $5.40 billion that the asset class attracted in February. In March:

  • domestic funds saw inflows of $26.42 billion, compared with the $8.27 billion that trickled in, in February
  • those that invest overseas had inflows of $2.85 billion, comparable to the previous month’s $2.86 billion.

Among the other asset classes:

  • fixed income funds attracted  $6.80 billion, down from February’s $10.71 billion inflow
  • hybrid funds brought in $3.39 billion, compared with an inflow of $2.34 billion in February
  • some $53.05 billion flowed out of money market funds in March, compared with an outflow of $5.55 billion the previous month.

Of the March outflow, funds that are offered primarily to institutions had an outflow of $34.51 billion, while those offered primarily to individuals had an outflow of $18.54 billion.

The survey comprises data reported to ICI from 4,793 stock funds, 490 hybrid funds, 2,096 bond funds, and 1100 money market funds.


 

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