U.S. Stock Funds Get Snubbed in February

Last month, investors withdrew $3.7 billion from U.S. equity funds, for the fifth outflow in the last six months. Over the last 12 months, $21.3 billion has exited the asset class.      

Taxable-bond funds, which have dominated inflows since January 2009, posted inflows of $19.8 billion in February.       

Muni-bond funds have also experienced steady and strong inflows over the past several months. Inflows over the first two months of the year already surpass $10 billion, for the strongest start the asset class has ever experienced, Morningstar said.      

Money market funds, meanwhile, saw outflows of $71.1 billion in February, and $663.5 billion over the past 12 months. International-stock funds registered $4.6 billion in inflows in February.       

Foreign large blend is the most popular international category so far in 2010, with inflows of $6.3 billion. However, over the past 12 months, the diversified emerging-markets category has taken in about the same amount of cash as the foreign large-blend category. Each category has experienced inflows over the last year of more than $19 billion.       

Templeton Global Bond has taken in more than $14.5 billion in assets over the past 12 months, second only to PIMCO Total Return in bond inflows. PIMCO Short-Term Bond experienced $6.1 billion in inflows over the same period, and its total net assets are now $10.6 billion.      

Other highlights of the Morningstar report include:

• Many of the fastest-growing new funds that have launched over the past six months are associated with target-date funds, notably Fidelity Series Commodity Strategy, which is one of the underlying funds in Fidelity’s Freedom Target-Date series, and Fidelity Series Inflation-Protected Bond Index.
• JPMorgan and T. Rowe Price began 2010 on a strong note, with year-to-date inflows of $5.3 billion and $3.8 billion, respectively.