Annual
net intake into long-term funds was $402 billion in 2014, according to Strategic Insight, an Asset International company. Equities
captured nearly $300 billion of net intake in 2014, down from the prior year’s
inflows of $450 billion.
Aggregate
net flows to long-term stock and bond funds in December were flat, as $16.4
billion of net inflows to Equity products were offset by $16.7 billion of net
redemptions from Bond funds. Net intake to Equity products totaled $16.4
billion in December, led by a $25.8 billion inflow to U.S. Equity.
Among
U.S. Equity funds, demand continued to prevail for exchange-traded products which
attracted a net $43.7 billion in December, lifting 2014 net intake to $134
billion.
Taxable
Bond fund outflows totaled $21.3 billion in December, however the funds ended
2014 with $79.9 billion of net intake on the year.
Weighted
average fund returns were negative in December for both U.S. Equity and
International Equity funds, at -0.2% and -3.1%, respectively. Taxable Bond fund
average returns were also slightly lower at -0.6%, while Tax-Free offerings
returned 0.6% on the month. U.S. Equity led broad asset class average fund
returns on the year at 10.1%.
Money Market fund net
deposits totaled $86.4 billion in December.
In
Macedon, New York, police spotted a
woman driving erratically around a Walmart parking lot. The 46-year-old told
officers she had gotten lost on the way home. Suspecting she was drunk, an
officer subjected the woman to a breat.halyzer test. She registered a 0.26.
However, she hadn’t been drinking your usual alc.oholic beverages—she had been
drinking vanilla extract, which contained 41% alc.ohol. She was arrested and
charged with driving while into.xicated.
In
Spokane Valley, Washington, two men
carrying large garbage bags over their shoulders while walking were stopped by
police. The bags contained frozen lamb chops. The men said a woman gave them
the food because she was moving, but police followed their footprints in the
snow to a home that had been broken into. The resident said the lamb chops were
stolen from her freezer. The men were charged with burglary and theft.
In
Cleveland, Ohio, a man boarded a
long-delayed flight to New York to find that every other passenger had been
rebooked on another flight. According to CNN, he chose an aisle seat near the
front of the plane and stretched out. He got a flight attendant to snap
pictures of him, with rows of empty seats in the background, and tweeted it. However,
the man ended up only getting a semi-private jet; the plane was about to push
back when, at the last minute, another man hopped on.
In
Coon Rapids, Minnesota, a
60-year-old man called police and reported there might be dead bodies in his
house. When officers responded, the man opened the door wielding a large
Samurai sword, a 12-inch knife and a long wooden stick with a spear fastened to
it. KSTP-TV reports the man eventually put down the weapons and police searched
his home. They didn’t find dead bodies, but did find nearly 16 grams of metha.mphetamine.
In
Los Angeles, California, police officers
approached and questioned two men sitting in a SUV at Venice Beach. When one of
the men is asked to step out of the car, a passenger in the back appears to
crack saying, “I can’t do this I can’t do this, we have a bunch of coke in
the back…it’s not ours we were just bringing it to a friend,” NBC News
reports. The officers asked the men to step out of the car and handcuffed them.
A search of the trunk, however, turned up numerous sodas covered by a blanket.
Commander Andrew Smith of the LAPD was less than impressed. “It is
dangerous for the participants involved and a huge waste of a police officer’s
time. The public has a right to have their police officers working and not
wasting their time responding to juvenile pranks.” The SUV was equipped
with cameras on the Dash and in the trunk, and the two men posted the prank on
YouTube.
In
Largo, Florida, WFTS reported that
new rugs ordered for the sheriff’s administration building say “In Dog We
Trust” instead of “In God We Trust.” The real kicker is the forest
green rugs with the sheriff’s yellow badge were in the entrance area for a
couple of months before the error was discovered.
In Kissimmee, Florida, a police officer sought
to pull over a gold Acura after the vehicle nearly slammed into his cruiser. The
officer activated his car’s overhead lights, but the Acura continued moving.
According to The Smoking Gun the officer said that while shining a spotlight on
the Acura, “I saw the sun roof of the vehicle open.” Breuer slowed his car down
feeling the passenger was going to throw something out of the vehicle. Breuer
then watched as the vehicle’s passenger stuck his right hand out of the
sunroof. A clear bag come out of the sun roof, flew into the air… and landed on
the hood of the police officers car. The bag contained coc.aine. The men
finally pulled over and were arrested.