American Funds continued its high-paced belting of the competition by placing five of its funds in Financial Research Corp.'s top 10 list for July, a month that saw the mutual fund industry as a whole rake in inflows of $12 billion.
Buoyed by its lack of involvement in the ongoing scandal, American has had quite a 2004, and July was no exception. The company reaped $6 billion during the month, more than any other firm. For the year, the company has had inflows of $55.9 billion, an average of slightly less than $8 billion a month.
For the industry, domestic equity funds racked up $8 billion in inflows, while international equity funds took in $4 billion. Barclay's was the only other company to have more than one fund in the month's top 10, with its iShares S&P 500 Index and iShares MSCI EAFE Index funds finishing third and seventh, respectively. Barclay's success can be attributed to the recent rise in popularity of exchange-traded funds.
