CHICAGO, May 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Morningstar,
Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment
research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and
exchange-traded fund asset flows through April 30, 2010. U.S. open-end mutual funds
gathered nearly $41.0 billion in
assets in April, bringing year-to-date inflows to $165.1 billion. Money market funds continued to
bleed assets, with investors pulling $118.8
billion from these funds during the month. Total outflows
for money markets have reached $443.0
billion in 2010, which already surpasses the outflows for
all of calendar year 2009. Year-to-date net inflows for ETFs
reached $19.9 billion after
$12.2 billion in inflows in April.
Flows were positive for all ETF asset classes during the month.
Additional highlights from the report on mutual
funds:
- Domestic-stock funds had inflows of $6.3
billion in April, the largest inflow for the asset class
since May 2009. April was also the
first month of positive flows into actively managed U.S. stock
funds since May 2009.
- While taxable-bond funds retained their dominant position with
inflows of $22.1 billion in April,
support waned for municipal-bond funds, which had a rather
lackluster month with inflows of $989
million.
- Target-date funds have continued to steadily gather assets year
to date, with inflows of $20.5
billion through April. These funds represent a significant
percentage of total flows at many shops, accounting for more than
half of Fidelity's total flows and almost 40% of T. Rowe Price's over the past 12 months.
- Real estate funds, bolstered by strong returns over the
trailing 12 months, have gathered $1.5
billion in assets this year through April, which is the
category's best start since 2007.
- Vanguard gathered the most mutual fund assets in April of any
fund family with $8.6 billion.
Hotchkis and Wiley, Matthews Asia, and Osterweis also saw strong
inflows during the month.
Additional highlights from the report on ETFs:
- Small- and mid-cap U.S. stock ETFs experienced solid inflows in
April, gathering assets of $1.9
billion and $976 million,
respectively. Large-cap ETFs as a whole suffered outflows of about
$1.5 billion in April, led by steep
outflows of roughly $4.6 billion from
SPDR S&P 500 SPY.
- Taxable-bond ETFs continued to have strong inflows. Short-term
bond ETFs took in $517 million in
April, reflecting investors' preference for the short end of the
yield curve.
- Although it still ranks third in terms of ETF assets, Vanguard
continued to take market share from its biggest competitors,
iShares and State Street. Vanguard has had about $11.8 billion in total net inflows year to date
and has more than doubled its ETF assets over the past year.
- Investor demand for emerging-markets exposure partly fueled
inflows of $5.6 billion to
international-stock ETFs in April.
To view the complete report, please visit
http://www.global.morningstar.com/aprilflows10. For more
information about Morningstar Fund Flows, please click here.
About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent
investment research in North
America, Europe,
Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of
Internet, software, and print-based products and services for
individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar
provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings,
including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with
real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities,
indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in
addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has
operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in
companies based in two other countries.
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Media Contact:
Carling Spelhaug, 312-696-6150 or
carling.spelhaug@morningstar.com
SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.