Fund Flows Shrink to $1.09 Billion in August

Net contributions into mutual funds shrank to a paltry $1.09 in August after nervous investors withdrew $1.21 billion from stock funds during the same period, Investor's Business Daily reports.
The trickle of new assets into mutual funds during August marked the industry's second-worst month this year other than May, when contributions shrank to $430 million. The August figures come as a surprise considering that mutual funds gained $9.37 billion in July this year, according to the Investment Company Institute.
Aggressive growth, growth and sector funds last month were the big losers, which collectively bled $3.62 billion. Domestic stock funds in July collectively attracted $6.41 billion of fresh cash. Hybrid funds soaked up $2.61 billion in assets in August and fixed-income funds snapped a four-month losing streak and rebounded to gather $4.18 billion of new assets.
Industry research firms say preliminary figures suggest September will be a better month than August for net inflows but still less than average figures.