Reuters: Money: Bond funds attract $5.66 billion of inflows in latest week: ICI

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Bond funds attract $5.66 billion of inflows in latest week: ICI Mar 28th 2012, 20:33 By Sam Forgione NEW YORK | Wed Mar 28, 2012 4:33pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mutual fund investors poured money into bond funds, albeit at a slower pace, in the latest week and continued their exit from U.S. equities, data from the Investment Company Institute showed on Wednesday. The bond fund category -- which include corporate, junk bonds and government debt -- had net inflows of $5.66 billion for the week ended March 21, said ICI, a U.S. mutual fund trade organization. While still elevated, the inflows were less than the previous week's inflows of $9.1 billion. These funds have been drawing investors, with the Federal Reserve's commitment to keep interest rates at ultra-low levels in the face of a strengthening U.S. economy and as an overall reach for yield pushes investors out the risk curve. Conversely, equity funds had yet another rough week. They had net redemptions of $1.08 billion for the week ended March 21, following net redemptions of $2.58 billion the previous week, as the S&P 500 registered a modest 0.62 percent rise over the reporting period. Also, tax-free municipal bond funds had redemptions of $135 million, their first redemptions since August of last year. Hybrid funds, which can invest in stocks and fixed-income securities, had inflows of $1.82 billion, up from the previous week's inflows of $1.24 billion. The following table shows a breakdown of the ICI flows for the past five weeks (all figures in the millions of dollars): Estimated flows to long-term mutual funds: 2/22/2012 2/29/2012 3/7/12 3/14/2012 3/21/2012 Total Equity 810 -2,884 -236 -2,583 -1,082 Domestic -283 -3,111 -1,385 -2,889 -1,794 Foreign 1,093 226 1,149 306 713 Hybrid* 1,554 1,650 1,478 1,239 1,817 Total Bond 8,105 6,607 10,743 9,096 5,663 Taxable 6,724 5,479 9,087 7,772 5,798 Municipal 1,382 1,128 1,655 1,324 -135 Total 10,470 5,373 11,985 7,752 6,398 *Hybrid funds can invest in stocks and/or fixed income securities. (Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Dan Grebler) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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