=DJ Investors Add $6.46B To Stock Funds In November - ICI
12/26/2002
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
By Yuka Hayashi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--For the first time since May, investors were net buyers of stock funds in November, adding a net $6.46 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute Thursday.
Responding to a rally in the stock market started on Oct. 10, the total redemptions from stock mutual funds fell to $60.85 billion from $77.23 billion in October, said the primary trade group of the fund industry. This resulted in a net inflow into stock funds last month, even though the pace of the total new sales fell to $66.29 billion from $74.87 billion in October. There were also net exchanges into stock funds totaling $1.03 billion.
Year-to-date through the end of November, however, the net cash flow into stock funds remains deeply in negative territory, with a total net redemption of $19.87 billion. This means 2002 will likely be the first year of negative stock fund sales since 1988, considering that preliminary estimates by private groups indicate fund sales in December have been moderate at best.
The ICI data also show that the improvement in the stock market hasn't eased investors' risk-averse attitude. Taxable bond funds took in a net $7.9 billion in November, little changed from $7.98 billion in October, pushing up the year-to-date net inflow to $77.23 billion.
Hybrid mutual funds experienced negative net sales of $1.21 billion last month, while municipal bond funds had net outflows of $164 million. The net new cash flows into money market funds were very heavy in November at $127.56 billion, as a result of a temporary migration of institutional assets into money funds following an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve.
Reflecting a more bullish outlook by fund managers, the average amount of cash in stock funds' net assets fell to 5.0% in November, compared to 5.1% in October and 5.6% a year earlier.
According to a separate data released by the Financial Research Corp. of Boston, Capital Research & Management's American Funds was the best selling mutual fund family in November, pulling in $3.21 billion in net inflows. Fidelity Investments was No.2 with $2.38 billion, followed by Vanguard Group with $1.86 billion.
On the other end of the spectrum were Putnam Investments, which faced net redemptions totaling $1.08 billion, and Janus Capital with $740-million outflows.
The most popular fund in November was the $40.21-billion Growth Fund of America from American Funds as it attracted $647 million in new investor money. The $66.27-billion PIMCO Total Return Fund trailed right behind with inflows of $616 million. Another offering from American Funds, The $23.17-billion Income Fund of America was No. 3 as investors poured $581 million into the fund, according to FRC.
-By Yuka Hayashi, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2129; yuka.hayashi@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-26-02 1448ET |
