With International Funds Still Hot, Many Investors Are Getting Burned

U.S. mutual fund investors continued to favor international funds in April, but may have gotten burned. The Investment Company Institute reports that funds investing primarily outside of the U.S. posted an $18.4 billion inflow last month, compared to $8 billion for U.S. funds. All told, investors have put more than double the money into international funds this year than into U.S. funds. Many of those investors have likely been hurt by the nosedive in emerging markets over the past month.

All told, U.S. mutual fund assets rose $123.9 billion to $9.5 trillion, most of it going to stock funds, which saw an inflow of $26.4 billion during the month. Bond funds added $1.1 billion, and hybrid funds took in $404 million. Money market funds took a big tumble in April, with outflows of $27.1 billion, following last month’s outflow of $8.3 billion.