Investing April 18, 2002

Stock Fund Flows Increase on March Madness

April 18, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Investor sentiment was on the up in March, with around $29.6 billion in new money flowing into equity mutual funds, the biggest monthly inflow in over a year, according to Lipper Inc. a fund tracking firm.

Reported by

Camilla Klein

Stock funds last saw inflows of this magnitude when the US economy teetered on the brink of recession in April 2000, when some $33.77 billion in new money flooded the equity fund market as the major market indices rebounded.

The flow into equity funds came at the expense of money market funds, which saw a net outflow of $38.1 billion. On the fixed income side, bond funds attracted a rather muted net $5.4 billion in March.

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According to Lipper’s data, which is prepared using data provided by fund companies, over the month:

diversified value funds pulled in around $13.9 billion net
Standard & Poor’s 500 Index funds attracted about $2.7 billion
balanced funds had inflows of $2.4 billion.

Value funds took in a net $13.9 billion in March, while inflows offset outflows in the growth fund category, resulting in a zero net inflows.