Morningstar, Inc. (Nasdaq: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund asset flows through March 2011.
The pace of inflows into long-term mutual funds slowed slightly to USD27.0 billion in March from approximately USD27.9 billion in February, due largely to a reversal in US stock flows, according to latest estimates published by Morningstar.
The asset class saw outflows of USD934 million in March after taking in roughly USD26.1 billion combined in January and February.
Inflows for US ETFs meanwhile, rose to USD7.4 billion in March after reaching USD6.6 billion in February despite outflows of USD3.3 billion from US stock ETFs, which typically drive industry inflows.
Diversified emerging-markets flows, which have attracted a significant amount of attention since the financial crisis began in late 2008, highlight a striking difference in the way American and European investors express their appetite for emerging-markets exposure. European investors have a much greater proportion of their money in emerging markets than American investors and more funds to choose from to gain emerging-markets exposure. But Americans have been adding aggressively to emerging-markets funds in recent years, and are increasingly choosing to invest in them through passively managed products. Six years ago, actively managed open-end mutual funds and ETFs comprised 79% of diversified emerging-markets assets, but today make up 53%.
