Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through July 2011

CHICAGO, Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 July 2011. July's long-term mutual fund outflows of $17.1 billion marked the greatest monthly net redemption since December 2008, again fueled by the flight out of U.S.-stock funds. The asset class shed $22.9 billion in July, the greatest outflows since investors withdrew $27.9 billion during the peak of the credit crisis in October 2008. U.S. ETFs saw inflows of $17.2 billion in July, building on inflows of $9.8 billion a month earlier. Total ETF assets have increased roughly 25 percent over the trailing 12 months.

Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on mutual fund flows:

• Combined June and July money market outflows approached $150.0 billion, as investor fears about the government's failure to raise the debt ceiling and a potential credit freeze likely led many to shift assets to the greater liquidity of savings accounts.
• International-stock funds shed $3.7 billion in July, but inflows of $1.3 billion into diversified emerging-markets stock funds curtailed greater losses. Foreign large-cap, world-stock, and moderate-allocation funds all sustained outflows of at least $2.0 billion.
• Taxable-bond funds collected inflows of $8.9 billion in July, while municipal-bond fund flows were relatively flat for the third consecutive month. Flows into the national municipal-bond categories continued to strengthen, while single-state categories again saw outflows.
• After interest picked up in June, investors fled government-bond funds in July. After contributing $1.5 billion to these funds a month earlier, investors pulled $1.3 billion from the three main government-bond categories in July.

Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on ETF flows:

• U.S.-stock ETFs collected inflows of $6.4 billion in July to top all other ETF asset classes for the second consecutive month.
• After outflows of $3.7 billion and $892 million in May and June, respectively, commodities ETFs reversed course in July and recorded inflows of $3.7 billion. Precious-metals offerings accounted for the majority of inflows into commodities ETFs.
• Taxable-bond ETFs made another solid contribution to overall ETF inflows in July, with $3.3 billion in new assets. The asset class has not seen a net monthly outflow since December 2010.  
• International-stock ETFs built on June's inflows of $2.4 billion with inflows of $3.8 billion in July.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/julyflows11. For more information about Morningstar Fund Flows, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/fundflows.  

The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee or future results.

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 products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 400,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment management subsidiaries and has more than $180 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2011. The company has operations in 26 countries.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.