CHICAGO, May 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) fund flows for April 2019. Overall, passive U.S. equity fund assets nearly reached parity with active U.S. equity funds, as passive U.S. equity funds saw total assets of $4.3 trillion by month end, just $6.0 billion shy of active U.S. equity funds' total assets. Morningstar estimates net flow for mutual funds by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund, and net flow for U.S. ETFs shares outstanding and reported net assets.
"It's worth keeping in mind that mutual funds and ETFs are not representative of the broader U.S. equity market, but this is a milestone that has been a long time coming as the trend toward low-cost fund investing has gained momentum," said Kevin McDevitt, senior analyst and author of the Morningstar Fund Flows Report. "Active U.S. equity funds have had outflows every year since 2006 with roughly equivalent inflows into passive funds during that time."
Morningstar's report about U.S. fund flows for April is available here. Highlights from the report include:
- In April, passive U.S. equity funds closed the gap with $39.3 billion in inflows, versus $22.2 billion in outflows for their active counterparts.
- Demand for taxable-bond funds continues to grow, collecting approximately $42.5 billion in April. The bulk of those flows went to core intermediate-term bond funds. Passive funds also took in more than active with about $25 billion versus $17.0 billion.
- Among other major Morningstar groups, only municipal bonds saw inflows, which were $7.1 billion. All other groups had outflows, including international equity, which saw about $8.8 billion in outflows. After strong demand in recent years, international-equity funds have taken in just $4.3 billion over the past 12 months.
- Among the 10 largest U.S. fund families, iShares and State Street saw the first- and second-greatest inflows at $8.0 billion and $7.5 billion, respectively. Both benefitted from the trend towards core investments. Vanguard trailed both iShares and State Street with $5.5 billion in inflows, the firm's weakest showing since 2013.
- Oakmark's outflows were the highest of any firm at $2.5 billion. All its strategies saw outflows, including Oakmark International, which boasts a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Gold, with $1.3 billion in outflows.
To view the complete report, please click here.
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About Morningstar, Inc.
Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offers an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $210 billion in assets under advisement and management as of March 31, 2019. The company has operations in 27 countries. For more information, visit www.morningstar.com/company. Follow Morningstar on Twitter @MorningstarInc.
Morningstar's Manager Research Group consists of various wholly owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. including, but not limited to, Morningstar Research Services LLC. Analyst Ratings are subjective in nature and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. Analyst Ratings are based on Morningstar's Manager Research Group's current expectations about future events and therefore involve unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause such expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what was expected. Analyst Ratings are not guarantees nor should they be viewed as an assessment of a fund's or a fund's or separately managed account's underlying securities' creditworthiness. This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities or a separately managed account investment strategy in this press release should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities or to invest in accordance with that strategy.
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