PIMCO can’t catch a break. After recent reports of lawsuits and more lawsuits, PIMCO Total Return now has the dubious honor of “reclaiming its position as the fund with the largest outflows for the month” of September, according to Morningstar.
Something called the Bridge Builder Municipal Bond, as well as Vanguard Total International Stock, led the list of active and passive funds, respectively, with the highest September inflows.
The Chicago-based Morningstar also reported that international-equity funds—especially those with exposure to Europe, the region most likely to see potential future growth in light of the European Central Bank’s ongoing quantitative easing—absorbed the majority of September flows. The international-equity category group took in $5.7 billion.
Additional highlights about U.S. asset flows in September include:
- Taxable-bond funds sustained another month of outflows, although the total outflow for active and passive funds combined was smaller than in previous months. However, in a sign that investors may be willing to accept the lower yields of some categories in exchange for less risk, the short- and long-government Morningstar categories were among those with the highest inflows for the second consecutive month.
- Alternative was the only category group with active-fund inflows for the second consecutive month, collecting $719 million.
- After heavy outflows in August, BlackRock/iShares rebounded in September, and iShares’ passive inflows surpassed Vanguard’s for the first month this year.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
