$28.4 Billion in Overall Flows

Overall, inflows in stock and bond mutual funds, or long-term funds, rose 15% in March from the previous month, jumping to $28.4 billion from $24.6 billion in February.

International and global funds once again led the charge, bringing in $17.5 billion. However, domestic equity funds were right behind, drawing $16.4 billion worth of inflows.

This marked a stark contrast from February, a month that saw inflows of $21.5 billion by international and global funds compared to just $5.8 billion by domestic stock funds.

In terms of inflows by sector, American once again dominated the month's inflow chart, as six of the top 20 funds in net flows were funds run by American.

By individual fund, leading the way for the month, however, was State Street Global Advisors' SPDR, which drew in more than $3 billion in March, almost double that of the second-place finisher, Barclays Global Investors' iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund.

So far in 2005, American Funds has the bragging rights to the top three funds in inflows: Growth Fund of America, the Capital Income Builder and the Capital World Growth & Income funds.

Across Morningstar categories, moderate allocation funds led the charge once again in March, drawing more than $5.5 billion of net flows. For the year, moderate allocation funds have attracted almost $15.8 billion worth of inflows. Foreign large-blend funds were the second-most prolific, bringing in more than $3.9 billion. Domestic large-blend funds experienced a bit of a recovery, as they experienced $3.35 billion in inflows. For the year, however, large-blend funds have suffered more than $5 billion in outflows.

Corporate funds suffered outflows of $927 million, compared to inflows of more than $3 billion in March of 2004. Year-to-date, corporate funds have drawn in just $1.6 billion, compared to $7.4 billion after three months in 2004. In March, only corporate funds and tax-free funds had outflows. Government funds felt moderate inflows of $795 million.

Outflows from money market funds totaled more than $17 billion, compared to $37 billion from just a month earlier. Year-to-date, money market funds have suffered $67.8 billion in outflows, compared to $42.7 billion a year earlier.

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