Morningstar Reports December, Full-Year 2013 U.S. Mutual Fund Asset Flows

CHICAGO, Jan. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated December and full-year 2013 U.S. mutual fund asset flows. The fund industry enjoyed healthy growth in 2013 as a slowly improving global economy sparked improvement in investor sentiment. Net inflows of $265.8 billion in 2013 pushed long-term mutual fund assets to a record $10.9 trillion. Morningstar estimates net flow by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund. Click here for a full explanation of Morningstar's methodology.

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

• The multiyear trend of investor preference for bond funds over equity funds ended. The $218.6 billion inflow into equity mutual funds was the largest since 2000, but on a percentage-of-assets basis, growth was only 3 percent—well short of the double-digit growth rates seen in the mid-1990s.
• Taxable-bond funds, which saw inflows of $268.1 billion in 2012, mustered inflows of just $21.0 billion in 2013. Taken together, taxable- and municipal-bond funds had their first year of outflows since 2004.
• Bank loan and foreign large blend, two fairly new bond categories, were among the fastest-growing in 2013, with inflows of $61.3 billion and $58.1 billion, respectively, for the year. Funds in each category have relatively short durations, which is appealing in a rising-rate environment. The intermediate-term bond category shed $78.9 billion, the largest net redemptions in 2013 for any category.
• Vanguard gained nearly a full percentage point of market share in 2013, and its index funds swept the top three spots on the list of funds with the greatest inflows for the year. Vanguard's $74.6 billion inflow for 2013 is more than three times greater than any other firm. PIMCO, American Funds, Columbia, and Janus had significant outflows. For PIMCO, it was a quick reversal from 2012, when it was the second-biggest recipient of inflows; American Funds had its sixth consecutive year of net outflows.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/decflows13. To view a video recapping the latest U.S. asset flow trends, please visit http://bit.ly/dec2013flows. For more information about Morningstar Asset Flows, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/assetflows. 

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 of 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 individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 437,000 offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 10 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 registered investment advisor subsidiaries and has approximately $176 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2013. The company has operations in 27 countries.

©2014 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MORN-R

Media Contact:
Carling Spelhaug, +1 312 696-6150 or [email protected]

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.