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Investing September 28, 2001
Stock Funds Slide, Bonds Buoyed in August
September 28, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Although US
mutual funds as a group lost 2.3% of their combined assets in
August, taxable bond funds surged ahead of the pack by
chalking up a 3.1% hike to $608 million.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
According to the Investment Company Institute’s regular monthly survey, funds fell from $6.89 trillion in total assets in July to $6.73 trillion in August.
Not surprisingly, the biggest asset losers in August were equity funds, which shed 5.7% of their value to $3.38 trillion. The $5.2 billion in August outflows from equity funds was dramatically up from the $1.2-billion outflow the month before.
The only equity fund categories in the black for the month were growth and income funds (+$2.1 billion) and income-equity funds (+$594 million).
On the fixed-income side, taxable bond funds bested their July performance by a generous amount. August inflows were $13.6 billion- way up from July’s $7-billion increase.
The ICI reported that muni bond funds took in 2.5% more in assets in August compared to July. The muni funds ended August with $299 million.