Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund Asset Flows Through February 2012

CHICAGO, March 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows through February 2012. Open-end mutual funds had their strongest monthly long-term inflows in nearly two years, taking in an estimated $43.8 billion in February. Taxable-bond funds dominated inflows by asset class. These offerings collected $28.9 billion during the month, their highest monthly intake since March 2010. Taxable-bond assets have more than doubled from $1.0 trillion to $2.1 trillion in the little more than three years since the end of 2008. The group's share of overall long-term mutual fund assets has grown to 25% from about 20.6%, fueled by inflows of about $678.4 billion during the period.

Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on mutual fund flows:

• Outflows continued for U.S.-stock funds as investors redeemed $1.2 billion in February. However, this was the smallest monthly outflow for the asset class in 10 months.
• Passively managed U.S.-stock funds continue to attract money at the expense of their actively managed brethren. While actively managed funds have suffered outflows of $134.4 billion over the last 12 months, passively managed funds have collected about $20.1 billion in new assets.
• DoubleLine Total Return led all funds in February with inflows of nearly $2.4 billion. At the other end of the spectrum, American Funds Growth Fund of America saw outflows of $3.1 billion.
• Municipal-bond funds continued their return to normality with inflows of about $6.5 billion, which is close to the asset class' long-term baseline.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/febflows12. To view a video recapping February's U.S. fund flow trends, please visit http://bit.ly/febflows. For more information about Morningstar Asset Flows, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/assetflows.   

The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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 individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on approximately 375,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 8 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment management subsidiaries and has more than $180 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Dec. 31, 2011. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.