Mutual Fund Growth Eases Up in December

The $138.9 billion increase was mild compared to the strong $268.2 billion rebound in mutual funds for November (See   Mutual Fund Assets Make Strong Rebound in November).

class=”normal-1″> Money market funds led the pack with an inflow of $46.56 billion in December, compared with an inflow of $30.29 billion in November.   Funds offered primarily to institutions had an inflow of $40.13 billion, while funds offered primarily to individuals had an inflow of $6.43 billion.

Long-term funds – stock, bond, and hybrid funds – had a net inflow of $6.69 billion in December, compared with net inflow of $21.21 billion in November.   For 2005, long-term funds had an inflow of $192.48 billion, compared to an inflow of $209.80 billion in 2004, according to ICI data.

Stock funds posted an inflow of $10.10 billion in December, down from a $21.02 billion gain in November.   Among stock funds, world equity funds posted an inflow of $12.28 billion for the month, while funds that invest primarily in the US had an outflow of $2.18 billion.

Hybrid funds posted an outflow of $698 million in December, compared with an inflow of $514 million in November.

Investors continued to flee bond funds which had an outflow of $2.71 billion in December, compared with an outflow of $324 million in November. Taxable bond funds had an outflow of $1.51 billion for the month, retreating from an inflow of $406 for last month.   Municipal bond funds had an outflow of $1.21 billion in December, compared with an outflow of $730 million in November.

For the year, world equity funds had an inflow of $104.61 billion versus an inflow of $31.19 billion for domestic equity funds, hybrid funds had an inflow of $25.26 billion compared to an inflow of $42.71 billion in 2004, and bond funds had an inflow of $31.42 billion versus an outflow of $10.77 billion in 2004.