June 12, 2012
--- Investors put $14 billion in net inflows into stock
and bond mutual funds in the U.S. in May. ---
That was a drop from the $24.5
billion in net inflows to stock and bond funds in April. May’s numbers also
marked the lowest volume of positive net flows since long-term mutual funds
experienced net outflows in December 2011, according to Strategic Insight, an
Asset International company.
In May, domestic equity funds saw
net outflows of nearly $5 billion, during a month of poor stock returns: the
average U.S. stock mutual fund lost 4.2% in the month, on an asset-weighted
basis. That brought total U.S. equity fund flows to -$7.4 billion for the first
five months of 2012—a sharp reversal from the same period a year ago, when U.S.
equity funds enjoyed cumulative net inflows of $40 billion.
International/Global
equity funds posted net inflows of $5 billion in May, but that was down from
the $6.5 billion they took in the previous month. In the first five months of
2012, international equity funds drew aggregate net inflows of $27.6 billion.