Tracking mutual fund money flows
QUESTION: How can I get a report of the amount of money flowing into and
out of mutual funds monthly?
- C.B.
ANSWER: In an effort to gain an understanding of the buying and selling
forces impacting the stock market, investors often look to the flow of
money into and out of mutual fund accounts to gauge investor sentiment and
actual investor action. Mutual funds own about 20% of stocks traded in the
United States, so a systematic movement of money into or out of the market
or a market segment can impact market prices. However, like all financial
measures, it is important to look beyond overall summary figures to
measure the potential market impact. Money flow data over the last few
months indicates net outflows from stock funds and net inflows into bond
funds. Keep in mind that although an $18 billion net outflow from stock
funds in June sounds very high, it only accounts for 0.54% of total assets
invested in stock funds. Cash of stock funds in June was reported at 4.6%,
a decline from the 5.6% figure one year ago.
The Investment Company Institute is the definitive source of aggregate,
monthly mutual fund money flow figures. This mutual fund industry trade
group surveys the widest range of funds in compiling its figures, but it
only reports its figures on a monthly basis for broad mutual fund groups
on the last week of the following month. Its June 2002 flow figures were
released on July 29, 2002 for six fund groups-stock, hybrid, taxable bond,
muni bond, taxable money market, and muni money market funds. Its
statistics can be viewed at no cost on its Web site at www.ici.org.
A number of fee-based services provide more frequent and detailed mutual
fund flow information. AMG Data services (www.amgdata.com) provides
detailed monthly and broad weekly data on its Web site. Subscriptions
start with a $250 service that provides weekly flow and asset updates for
four broad mutual fund categories. They build up to $22,000 subscriptions
that also examine market sector flows and measure both market and flow
impact on fund assets. TrimTabs (www.trimtabs.com) is another service
providing a detailed examination of fund money flows. Its service options
even include a daily report subscription, but at a $30,000 annual rate.
Weekly and monthly subscriptions are $10,000 annually. Both companies
provide recent flow news that can be viewed at no cost. Another
interesting site for fund flow data is www.frcnet.com, by Financial
Research Corporation. Financial Research Corporation is a market research
and consulting firm that services the mutual fund industry. The site
normally features a monthly analysis of mutual fund money flows that goes
beyond broad market segments and reports on market sectors and individual
funds. Finally, Lipper tracks mutual fund money flows broken down by asset
class and Lipper classifications. Investors can view press releases
regarding money flow on the Lipper Web site (www.lipperweb.com), but
Lipper does not sell subscriptions to individual investors directly. The
Lipper site directs users to sites using Lipper data such as The Wall
Street Journal Online (www.wsj.com) and TheStreet.com (www.thestreet.com).
Be aware the many large mutual fund companies such as Fidelity and
Vanguard only release their money flow data on a monthly basis. Firms such
as AMG base their weekly data on a sample of funds to determine their
weekly statistics. |
