Bonds, Large-Cap Funds Big Business in First Quarter

Investors showed continued interest in bond and large-cap funds in the first quarter, while interest mid-cap and growth funds shrank, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Corporate and high-yield offerings led the bond boom, according to AMG Data Services. High-yield bond funds enjoyed the biggest inflows since 2003. Bonds overall had a record-breaking $44.7 billion in inflows. That is double the 10-year average for the first quarter, according to research from Citigroup Investment Research.

With the economy cooling as expected, many investors are moving into true-blue-chips. Inflows to large-cap funds were about $16.3 billion last quarter, more than tow-and-a-half times the amount during the first quarter of 2006.

Large-cap blend funds led the charge with $6.6 billion of inflows, according to Boston-based Financial Research Corp.  In 2006, that category suffered outflows of $2.6 billion.

Flows to mid-caps and small-caps were down about 35%, compared to the same period last year.

April marked the 11th consecutive month of outflows for aggressive growth funds, making the total redemptions nearly $40 billion. Inflows to value funds, on the other hand, were $15.2 billion.

U.S. funds continue to be less popular than overseas stocks. In 2006, domestic fund inflows were about $15.2 billion. In March 2006 domestic funds took in $1.6 billion.

Domestic ETFs have fared better, with 53% of all flows coursing to domestic funds.

The staff of Money Management Executive ("MME") has prepared these capsule summaries based on reports published by the news sources to which they are attributed. Those news sources are not associated with MME, and have not prepared, sponsored, endorsed, or approved these summaries.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Money Management Executive
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING