The Pimco folks staged a big flows comeback last month, but two passive titans are still way ahead of the rest of the mutual fund pack.

Dan Ivascyn Pimco Group Chief Investment Officer

Today Chicago-based investment research specialist Morningstar publicly released its "Morningstar Direct Asset Flows Commentary: United States" report for March 2017. Alina Lamy, senior analyst of quantitative research, penned the report. (An abridged version of the report is publicly accessible, while the full report and appendices are available to Morningstar Direct users.)

Vanguard stayed on top last month with a whopping $37.988 billion in net inflows, M* estimates, followed by: BlackRock (including iShares), $23.37 billion; Pimco, $3.761 billion; DFA, $3.066 billion; and Schwab, $2.471 billion.

On a relative basis, Guggenheim had another huge month, netting inflows amounting to 3.16 percent of its AUM in March, per M* estimates. Among the 46 biggest fund firms, the other biggest inflow winners proportionately last month were: Schwab, 1.84 percent; BlackRock, 1.78 percent; AB, 1.65 percent; and Legg Mason, 1.32 percent.

On the flip side, Franklin Templeton again suffered the biggest net outflows last month, of $3.424 billion, M* estimates. The other biggest outflow sufferers in March were: Harbor, $1.852 billion; MainStay, $1.785 billion; J.P. Morgan, $1.751 billion; and Voya, $1.44 billion.

Proportionately, MainStay suffered the biggest outflows among big fund fund firms, with March outflows amounting to 3.37 percent of its AUM, per M* estimates. The other biggest outflow sufferers proportionately were: Harbor, 2.68 percent; Dreyfus, 1.85 percent; Voya, 1.76 percent; and GMO, 1.60 percent.

Industrywide, long-term, active mutual fund flows swung negative again in March, to $4.111 billion in net outflows, M* estimates. Money market funds suffered $19.271 billion in net outflows. Yet passive funds brought in $73.667 billion in net inflows last month, overwhelming the outflows from the other two categories combined.

Within long-term, active mutual funds, four categories brought in net inflows last month, per M* estimates. Taxable bond funds brought in $19.796 billion; muni bond funds, $786 million; alts funds, $383 million; and commodities funds, $152 million.

Active, long-term U.S. equity funds suffered an estimated $18.588 billion in net outflows. $2.852 billion net flowed out of international equity funds, $2.421 billion out of sector equity funds, and $1.367 billion out of allocation funds. 

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