CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows through December 2012. Long-term open-end funds saw inflows of $243.2 billion in 2012. Money continued to flow out of actively managed stock funds and into all manner of bond funds, with yields across many fixed-income sectors either at or near all-time lows. Since the end of 2008, assets in taxable-bond funds have more than doubled, climbing from $1.1 trillion to $2.5 trillion, with approximately 65 percent of the increase attributable to net inflows. When municipal-bond funds are included, inflows for fixed-income funds have exceeded $1.0 trillion since the beginning of 2008.

Additional highlights from Morningstar's report on mutual fund flows:


    --  2012 outflows from actively managed U.S.-stock mutual funds surpassed
        those seen in 2008 despite the fact that the S&P 500 was up 16 percent
        for the year. Even when exchange-traded funds are included, large-cap
        U.S.-stock funds have seen net outflows over the trailing five-year
        period and in each of the last four years.
    --  Intermediate-term bond funds attracted the greatest inflows of any
        Morningstar Category for the fourth year in a row, taking in $109.9
        billion in 2012. This was almost three times the inflows of $37.5
        billion seen by the runner-up, short-term bond.
    --  Vanguard and PIMCO captured 61 percent of net inflows in 2012, compared
        with 30 percent in 2011 and 46 percent in 2009.
    --  DoubleLine Total Return Bond, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating of
        Neutral, tallied 2012 inflows of $19.6 billion to edge out Gold-rated
        PIMCO Total Return, which collected $18.0 billion, for the year's
        greatest open-end fund inflows. The inclusion of BOND, the ETF
        incarnation of PIMCO Total Return that saw inflows of $3.8 billion in
        2012, would move Bill Gross into first place in terms of overall
        inflows.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/decflows12. To view a video recapping December's U.S. asset flow trends, please visit http://bit.ly/dec2012flows. For more information about Morningstar Asset Flows, please visit http://global.morningstar.com/assetflows.

The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar and/or its content providers; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete, or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

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 individuals, financial advisors, and institutions. Morningstar provides data on more than 385,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 8 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its registered investment advisor subsidiaries and has approximately $195 billion in assets under advisement and management as of Sept. 30, 2012. The company has operations in 27 countries.

Media Contact:
 Carling Spelhaug, 312-696-6150 or carling.spelhaug@morningstar.com

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SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.