Mutual Fund Assets Up 4.5% in September

The combined assets of the nation's mutual funds grew $486.2 billion in September, or 4.5%, to $11.267 trillion, as investors continued to add to long-term bond funds and pull money out of stock and money market portfolios, the Investment Company Institute has reported.

Stock funds saw $11.16 billion walk out the door during the month, after redemptions of $16.50 billion in August, the institute said last Thursday.

Funds that invest primarily overseas pulled in $3.54 billion of new money, after losing $943 million to redemptions in August. But funds that invest primarily in the U.S. saw $14.70 billion leave, slightly less than the $15.55 billion lost in August. Nevertheless, total assets in stock funds rose 9.3% during September, to $5.15 trillion, as market appreciation offset the impact of redemptions.

Investors added $1.87 billion to hybrid funds, which invest in both stocks and bonds, after pulling out $782 million in August. After taking into account market appreciation, hybrid fund assets grew 5.8% during the month, to $691 billion.

Bond funds took in $26.49 billion of new money in September, down from $30.81 billion in August.

The bulk of that was added to taxable bond funds, which took in $24.21 billion, down slightly from $25.71 billion in August. Investors also added $2.29 billion to municipal bond funds in September, down from $5.11 billion in August. Total assets in taxable long-term bond funds rose 2%, to $2.11 trillion, and total assets in long-term municipal bond funds rose 0.4%, to $515.2 billion.

Roughly half of redemptions, or $16.85 billion, were pulled from funds offered primarily to institutions; another $15.49 billion came out of funds offered primarily to individuals.

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