For the week ended Jan. 30, the long-neglected funds raked in an estimated $8.18 billion in inflows, bringing total inflows to stock funds for the year to more than $38 billion. Last year, the funds lost nearly $153 billion in assets.
The most recent $8.18 billion inflow was up 29% from the previous week’s gain. Of the $8.18 billion, $4.67 billion went to global funds with the remaining $3.52 billion going to U.S. funds.
Hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and fixed income securities, were also popular, taking in an estimated $2.65 billion in inflows, up 37% from the $1.94 billion they took a week earlier.
Inflows into bond funds, in contrast, swooned. For the week ended Jan. 30, bond funds attracted an estimated $3.50 billion, less than half the $8.06 billion they took in the week before. The bulk of the $3.50 billion went to taxable bond funds, which drew an estimated $2.63 billion.
All told, mutual funds attracted $14.33 billion for the week, besting last year’s best week, a $13.18 billion inflow in early February.
The weekly fund flow estimates are derived from data covering more than 95% of industry assets, according to ICI. The statistics cover long-term mutual funds, those the ICI defines as investing in long-term instruments.
