Lipper

Matthew Lemieux reviews preliminary mutual fund flow numbers for the third quarter 2012 in this WebEx replay. Overall, U.S. conventional mutual funds posted net inflows of $101.9 billion, bolstered heavily by taxable fixed income funds (+$70.8 billion). Despite strong returns and a general increase in investor sentiment, U.S. diversified equity funds continued to bleed assets as the group reported net redemptions of $39.5 billion. Exchange-traded products continued to draw assets, posting $52.1 billion for the same period. Municipal bond funds added $31.6 billion to their accounts as money market funds (+$23.9 billion) also reported net inflows for the quarter.

Jeff Tjornehoj reviews the third quarter performance of fixed income funds. Statements by central bankers Draghi and Bernanke shook up bond markets and focused investors’ attention back on monetary policies and their positive effect on risky assets. Because the dollar fell over the quarter, ex-US fund strategies outperformed and with risk assets back in the driver’s seat lower-quality credits also led the performance charts at the expense of Treasuries and short-duration types.

Tom Roseen highlights Q3 equity fund trends in this WebEx presentation. Despite the proverbial cloud hovering over the global market during the quarter, investors found a reason to cheer: central bank intervention. The on-again, off-again story surrounding Greece, Italy, and Spain from Q2 appeared to play into equity participants’ plans. Investors throughout the third quarter bet that global central bankers would do whatever it took to keep their individual economies on track. Quarterly equity fund performance was unexpectedly strong, with the average equity fund gaining 5.72%, erasing all of Q2’s loss (-5.19%).

Matthew Lemieux reviews preliminary mutual fund flow numbers for the third quarter 2011 in this WebEx replay. In line with expectations after a disastrous quarter for fund performance, the conventional mutual fund business experienced preliminary quarterly outflows of $125.0 billion. Equity Funds as a whole accounted for roughly $82.9 billion of that as U.S. diversified products posted redemptions of over $70 billion alone. Taxable bond funds were not immune to the sell-off as inflows to the group were nearly flat--a meager $162 million. Investors moved away from higher yields as the previous quarter’s top flows attractor, Loan Participation funds, experienced outflows of $8.2 billion and High Current Yield products lost roughly $3.0 billion. Municipal bond funds offered a bit of a bright spot with quarterly inflows of $1.5 billion as flows for money market funds continued to be volatile with net quarterly redemptions of $43.8 billion.

Serious concerns on the fate of Greece, European banks, and even the euro itself sent Treasury-related categories to the top of the performance charts in Q3. The "risk-off" trade forced High Yield and Emerging Markets Debt groups plunging. Jeff highlights these and other trends in his WebEx presentation.

Equity Funds suffered their worst declines since Q4 2008, losing 17.44% for the quarter ended September 30, 2011. For the quarter, only 2 of Lipper's 86 equity fund classifications posted positive returns: Dedicated Short-Bias Funds (+29.82%) and Commodities Specialty Funds (+1.17%). World Equity Funds (-20.44%) lagged their Mixed Equity Funds (-10.08%), Sector Equity Funds (-15.36%), and U. S. Diversified Equity Funds (-16.67%) cohorts in Q3. Tom highlights Q3 trends in this WebEx presentation.

A late-summer rally catapulted equity funds to their best gain (+12.52%) in five quarters and their strongest September return (+9.63%) since at least 1959. For the quarter all but 1 of Lipper's 79 equity fund classifications posted positive returns. At the top of the equity funds leader board were the Latin American Funds (+25.93%), Diversified Leverage Funds (+22.61%), and International Real Estate Funds (+22.60%) classifications. Tom highlights Q3 trends and provides his outlook in this WebEx presentation.

For the fixed income universe, third quarter's best performance was turned in by strategies that benefited from dollar weakness. The U.S. dollar index (TXA) sank over 7% to send Emerging Markets Debt Funds and International Income Funds up 9.23% and 9.22%, respectively. At the other end of the safety scale General U.S. Treasury Funds returned 3.70%. Jeff reviews the trends impacting fixed income mutual fund investors during the quarter.