Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows Through May 2010

CHICAGO, June 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 May 2010. Redemptions of nearly $15.0 billion from domestic-equity funds, the largest monthly outflow since March 2009, contributed to outflows of $13.2 billion for all long-term mutual funds in May. The European economic woes that dominated the headlines throughout the month brought an end to 13 consecutive months of steady inflows for international-stock funds. The asset class saw outflows of nearly $6.0 billion in May. Despite the market malaise, U.S. ETFs saw inflows of $4.8 billion in May, bringing year-to-date net inflows to $24.7 billion. The ETF industry had roughly $792.6 billion in assets as of the end of May.

Additional highlights from the report on mutual funds:

• While most bond categories saw positive flows in May, all but 34 of the 146 high-yield bond funds registered outflows in May. A total of $6.3 billion exited the category in May, which is the largest monthly outflow since Morningstar began keeping record in 1998. Conversely, short-term bond funds attracted $4.0 billion in new assets during the month.
• Record flows into emerging-markets bond funds suggest that investor perception about the risks of emerging-markets debt has changed. Flows into emerging-markets bond funds have increased steadily since mid-2009.
• Although money market funds saw outflows of $20.6 billion in May, the pace of redemptions slowed significantly.
• Excluding target-date funds, approximately 80 new funds have launched in 2010. Managed by star fixed-income manager Jeffrey Gundlach, the top newcomer is DoubleLine Total Return, which has amassed total net assets of $610 million since its early April debut.

Additional highlights from the report on ETFs:

• Commodities, with more than $5.6 billion in net inflows, topped all ETF asset classes in May. SPDR Gold Shares GLD, which has about $50 billion in total net assets and holds more than 1,200 tons of gold bullion, led the way.
• United States Oil USO gathered assets of $751 million in May, as the daily headlines on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico sparked newfound interest in speculating on crude.
• Taxable-bond ETFs saw inflows of $2.3 billion in May, led by iShares Barclays 1-3 year Treasury Bond SHY with $906 million in net inflows.
• Domestic equity was the only asset class among ETFs to experience net redemptions in May, with outflows of $4.7 billion.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/mayflows10. For more information about Morningstar Fund Flows, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/fundflows.  

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 Internet, software, and print-based products and services for individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 350,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 4 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. The company has operations in 20 countries and minority ownership positions in companies based in two other countries.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.