Morningstar Reports U.S. Mutual Fund and ETF Asset Flows for Full-Year and December 2017

CHICAGO, Jan. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset flows for full-year and December 2017. In 2017, investors placed $220.4 billion into U.S. equity passive funds and pulled $207.5 billion out of U.S. equity active funds. In December 2017, investors saw $22.5 billion of inflows to U.S. equity passive funds, and on the active front, the category had $16.3 billion of outflows. Morningstar estimates net flow for mutual funds by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund and net flow for ETFs by computing the change in shares outstanding.

Morningstar's report about U.S. asset flows for the full-year and December 2017 is available here. Highlights from the report include:

• Overall, open-end mutual funds and ETFs received a record influx of money in 2017: $685.9 billion. Taxable bond was the leading category group for the year with $388.8 billion in flows overall. The trend was the same for December 2017; taxable bonds saw $26.1 billion in overall flows last month.
• The two Morningstar Categories with the highest inflows in December remained the same: intermediate-term bond and foreign large blend. Large blend landed third on the top-flowing list despite $3.9 billion in outflows on the active side. The two Categories with the largest outflows were large growth and high-yield bond.
• Among top U.S. fund families in December, PIMCO and Dimensional Fund Advisors were the leaders in active flows with $3.0 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively. Franklin Templeton and Fidelity continued to sustain outflows from their active funds as they did in November. On the passive front, Vanguard was the top fund family, with inflows of $22.2 billion, followed by BlackRock/iShares with inflows of $9.0 billion.
• The active fund with the highest inflow in 2017 was PIMCO Income, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Silver, at $31.2 billion in new flows for the year and $2.3 billion for the month of December. Gold-rated Oakmark International was the top beneficiary of the sustained international-equity flows in 2017.
• The active fund with the largest outflow in 2017 was Bronze-rated Harbor International. BlackRock Global Allocation followed on the bottom-flowing list for full-year flows.

To view the complete report, please click here.

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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 individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, retirement plan providers and sponsors, and institutional investors in the private capital markets. Morningstar provides data and research insights on a wide range of investment offerings, including managed investment products, publicly listed companies, private capital markets, and real-time global market data. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries, with more than $220 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2017. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Morningstar's Manager Research Group consists of various wholly owned subsidiaries of Morningstar, Inc. including, but not limited to, Morningstar Research Services LLC. Morningstar's Manager Research Group produces various ratings including the Morningstar Analyst Rating for funds and the Morningstar Quantitative Rating for funds. The Analyst Rating is derived from a qualitative assessment process performed by a manager research analyst, whereas the Morningstar Quantitative Rating uses a machine-learning model based on the decision-making processes of Morningstar's analysts, their past ratings decisions, and the data used to support those decisions. In both cases, the ratings are forward-looking assessments and include assumptions of future events, which may or may not occur or may differ significantly from what was assumed. The Analyst Ratings and Quantitative Ratings are statements of opinions, subject to change, are not to be considered as guarantees, and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. This press release is for informational purposes only; references to securities should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the securities.

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Media Contact:
Sarah Wirth, +1 312 244-7358 or sarah.wirth@morningstar.com

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.