Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through December 2009
January 14 2010 - 1:43PM
PR Newswire (US)
CHICAGO, Jan. 14 /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 December 2009. Net inflows
for mutual funds amounted to $377.4 billion in 2009, with $356.6
billion of that total going to bond funds. The U.S. ETF industry
closed out 2009 with $784.9 billion in assets under management, up
from $744.7 billion at the end of November, and $533.4 billion at
the end of 2008. Additional highlights from the report on mutual
funds: -- As bond funds raked in the cash, U.S. stock funds bled
assets in 2009. They saw an additional $8.1 billion in outflows in
December, taking the full-year total outflow to $25.7 billion. --
Although international-stock funds fared better than domestic-stock
funds in 2009, taking in $25.5 billion in flows, they have not come
close to making up for the $70.4 billion in outflows they
experienced in 2008. -- In spite of the broad trend toward inflows,
a handful of fund families didn't join the party. American Funds,
Legg Mason/Western Asset, Putnam, Oppenheimer, Van Kampen, and
Morgan Stanley were among the fund families that experienced net
outflows in 2009. -- Investors largely preferred active strategies
in 2009. Active funds gathered $304.2 billion in assets for the
year, while passive long-term funds took in $69.7 billion. However,
investors pulled $52.9 billion out of active U.S. stock funds,
while passive domestic-equity funds saw inflows of $26.2 billion.
Additional highlights from the report on ETFs: -- Despite being the
only broad asset class to show net outflows in 2009, U.S. stock
ETFs closed out the year with $19.6 billion in net inflows in
December. -- Taxable-bond ETFs were the most popular asset class of
2009, bolstered by continued interest in Treasury
Inflation-Protected Securities and short-duration ETFs, which were
once again the category's top asset gatherers in December. --
Following their explosive performance over the past year, investors
continued to pile into emerging markets in December. -- SPDR Gold
Shares, which saw $11.2 billion in total net inflows in 2009 and
currently has more than $40.2 billion in assets under management,
was easily the most popular ETF in 2009 in terms of total asset
flows. To view the complete report, please visit
http://www.global.morningstar.com/decflows09. 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 more than
325,000 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.
©2010 Morningstar Inc. All rights reserved. MORN-R Media Contact:
Carling Spelhaug, 312-696-6150 or DATASOURCE: Morningstar, Inc.
CONTACT: Carling Spelhaug of Morningstar, Inc., +1-312-696-6150,
Web Site: http://www.morningstar.com/
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