75% of Fund Flows in '06 to International Funds

Three-quarters of the flows to mutual funds so far this year, or $113 billion, have been to international funds, Bloomberg reports.

Not only are mutual fund investors pouring money into international funds, but 72% of the money that pensions and endowments are investing, or $1.05 trillion, is also going to stocks overseas. This flood of investments is helping to push down the value of the U.S. dollar.

 

Stephen Jen, head of global currency research at Morgan Stanley, estimates that 50% of the decline in the dollar over the past three years is due to overseas investing. "this does make us bearish on the dollar," said Michael Metcalfe, senior currency strategist with State Street Global Markets. "The home bias of U.S. investors is continuing to unravel."

So far this year, the dollar has declined 7%; since 2003, it has dropped 21% in value.

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Money Management Executive
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