Banc One Funds Soar After Market's Plunge

The big stock plunge 10 days ago turned out just fine, thanks, for sales of Banc One Corp.'s proprietary funds.

Banc One's stock and bond mutual funds reaped a windfall on the Monday after the Friday scare.

On March 8 the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 171 points, or 3%. On March 11, sales of stock and bond funds in the Columbus, Ohio company's One Group of Funds hit $4 million.

That made it the biggest day for sales since the $11.7 billion-asset fund family started tracking daily inflows two years ago, said a spokeswoman for Banc One Investment Advisors Corp.

Banc One customers seemed undeterred by the stock-market plunge. More than 80% of the One Group's sales March 11 were in stock mutual funds.

Michael Reed, president of Banc One's brokerage unit, said the high sales were a sign that customers are more interested in the long-term benefits of investing than in short-term corrections.

"Investing is about time, not timing," he said.

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