The ICI will now estimate "long-term mutual fund" (i.e. not money market) flows on a weekly basis, in addition to its monthly trend report with actual figures. The Washington, D.C.-based trade group revealed the new service Tuesday with high hopes. Watch for the data for each week ended Wednesday to pop up on Thursday.

"The new weekly report includes the largest weekly sample of long-term fund data flows by a significant factor," stated Brian Reid, chief economist for the ICI. "It is based on 95 percent of the U.S. assets."

The move mirrors a weekly report the ICI already provides on money market flows. The new report will include info on long-term equity (domestic and foreign), hybrid and bond (taxable and municipal) fund flows, as well as historical data.

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Company Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC, JANUARY 27, 2009—The Investment Company Institute will provide the most comprehensive weekly data on flows of money into and out of long-term mutual funds with the launch of a new statistical series on Wednesday, January 28.

The new weekly report will offer statistics for equity, hybrid, and bond mutual funds each Wednesday for the week ending on the prior Wednesday. The new report will provide broader coverage than that available from other fund information sources.

"The new weekly report includes the largest weekly sample of long-term fund data flows by a significant factor," said ICI Chief Economist Brian Reid. "It is based on 95 percent of the U.S. assets, which makes it a very good estimate. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the weekly reports will represent estimates, as opposed to the actual numbers included in ICI monthly trend report."

ICI will also revamp its existing weekly report on money market mutual fund (MMF) assets to provide greater detail on assets held in funds that focus on government securities, starting on January 29. The data will continue to be published on Thursday for the week ending on Wednesday.

"During recent market turmoil, flows between government and non-government funds have been a significant factor in understanding the landscape of the money markets," says Reid. "We will continue to provide this important data to the public and the Federal Reserve."

Both the new flows release and the revised MMF release will be accompanied by historical data, updated weekly, available on ICI’s website. ICI research staff will be available to explain any of the statistics. To be added to the distribution lists for either report, send an email to ivitols@ici.org, specifying your request.

Additional detail about reports

The new long-term mutual fund flows will include flows for:

Equity funds – broken out into domestic and foreign

Hybrid funds

Bond funds – broken out into taxable and municipal

Historical data will include:

monthly net new cash flow (NNCF) data for two years

estimated weekly NNCF statistics from the current and most recent weekly reports since the last monthly publication

The updated weekly MMF report will include:

Total assets for taxable government funds – broken out into retail and institutional

Total assets for taxable non-government funds – broken out into retail and institutional

Total assets for tax exempt funds – broken out into retail and institutional

The MMF release will now cover the three consecutive weeks ending the day before the release while the report will include one year of historical weekly data.

ICI, founded in 1940, is the national association of U.S. investment companies, including mutual funds, closed-end funds, unit investment trusts and exchange-traded funds. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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