Net Assets of Mutual Funds Increase in December
Mutual-fund trade group reports more money flowed into funds in December, with investors clearly choosing to stick with equity over fixed income.
Market Update
Investors continued to pour money into mutual funds in December, the Investment Company Institute reported Monday.
December was the fourth straight month of overall increases over the prior month in mutual funds' net assets, the fund-industry trade group noted. The combined assets of mutual funds increased 6.1% to $6.84 trillion.
But money didn't flow into all fund types equally. Stock funds got the biggest boost, with a net increase of more than 21% for the month. Investors preferred aggressive-growth funds most of all, funneling $11.5 billion into them, up from $8.4 billion in November. But bond funds--both taxable and municipal--saw cash outflows as investors withdrew $13.4 billion, compared with $4.65 billion the prior month.
Net assets of bond mutual funds also declined in December, losing 4.6% of their value. Net assets include fund cash flows and the changes in value of securities held in the portfolios. Stock funds, by contrast, increased 9.9% in total net assets.
In the same report, the trade group noted that stock funds were the dominant choice for the year as well. Over 1999, cash flow into stock funds jumped 19.4% from 1998.