Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, reported estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows through April 2012. Inflows to long-term funds reached $20.8 billion in April, down from $29.3 billion a month earlier. Despite declining yields, taxable-bond funds continued to dominate inflows, taking in another $16.9 billion in April. The asset class has collected $96.9 billion year to date and remains roughly on track to match 2009's record inflows of $282.5 billion. Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on mutual fund flows:
- On a relative basis, inflows for bond funds in recent years surpass the assets that flowed to equity funds during the height of their popularity in the late 1990s. Taxable-bond funds have absorbed $728.2 billion since January 2009, and total taxable-bond fund assets have nearly doubled.
- While U.S.-stock funds shed $214.9 billion overall during the last three years, the actively managed subset fared even worse, losing nearly 15% of their beginning assets. American Funds Growth Fund of America potentially skews the flow data for actively managed U.S.-stock funds, though, as outflows of about $58.9 billion the fund has experienced over the past three years represent 22% of all actively managed U.S.-stock outflows.
- In contrast to the broad trend, J.P. Morgan's asset base has grown by 2.5 times in the past three years to $158.2 billion, due in no small part to the success of the firm's actively managed equity offerings. JPMorgan Large Cap Growth, JPMorgan Equity Income, and JPMorgan US Equity have collectively taken in $6.6 billion over the trailing 12 months.
- PIMCO Total Return led all funds in April with inflows of $2.7 billion, the fund's strongest month since August 2010.
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