Fund assets hit $5.7 trillion
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February 25, 1999: 6:17 p.m. ET
Trade group says $15.7B in cash flowed into stock funds in January
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New York (CNNfn) - Mutual funds continued their reign of popularity in January as investors poured $15.7 billion into stock funds alone, an industry trade group said Thursday.
This brings total assets in stock mutual funds to $3.1 trillion, the Investment Company Institute said. Assets in all fund categories combined are now at $5.7 trillion, up 63 percent from the end of 1996.
January's stock fund inflow of $15.7 billion was higher than January 1998's increase of $14.09 billion, but well below the $28.52 billion in the same month of 1997, the ICI said.
In other fund groups, the money market category saw a record monthly increase of $60.78 billion. Cash flows to taxable and tax free bond funds, meanwhile, more than doubled to $8.43 billion from $3.35 billion in December.
Funds investing in foreign stocks reported $854 in new cash, reversing a $2.6 billion outflow in December. In domestic funds, only aggressive growth and income-equity reported outflows, the ICI said.
Meanwhile, Trim Tabs, a newsletter that tracks mutual fund flows, estimates that all equity funds had inflows of $5.5 billion over the five-day week ended Feb. 24, vs. inflows of $2.8 billion during the prior week.
And in other funds news, Vanguard Group Thursday said it is closing its high-performing Vanguard Health Care Fund to new investors. The $9.8 billion fund earned 40.80 percent in 1998, beating the S&P 500 by 12.22 percent, according to Morningstar, a Chicago fund-tracker.
-- by staff writer Jake Ulick
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