CHICAGO, Aug. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Morningstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: MORN), a leading provider of independent investment research, today reported estimated U.S. mutual fund asset flows for July 2014. Investors withdrew money from U.S. equity funds for the third-consecutive month, and the pace of outflows increased to $11.4 billion in July from $8.3 billion in June and $6.9 billion in May. Overall, flows into long-term mutual funds remained positive in July at $14.4 billion, but this total is noticeably lower than in recent months. Morningstar estimates net flow by computing the change in assets not explained by the performance of the fund. Click here for a full explanation of Morningstar's methodology.

Additional highlights from Morningstar's report about mutual fund flows in July: 


    --  Taxable-bond funds continued to see strong inflows despite declining
        interest rates. For the past three months, taxable-bond funds have seen
        the greatest inflows among all category groups.
    --  Despite the strong month for the taxable-bond category group overall,
        high-yield bond funds saw outflows of $7.9 billion in July after much
        milder redemptions of $466 million in June and inflows of more than $1.2
        billion in each of the previous months of this year except January.
        Bank-loan funds also saw sizeable outflows of $1.9 billion.
    --  Even though U.S. equity funds saw outflows, Vanguard Total Stock Market
        Index, Vanguard Institutional Index, and Vanguard Total International
        Stock Index recorded July inflows of $2.6 billion, $2.2 billion, and
        $1.8 billion, respectively. With four of the five top-flowing funds for
        the month, Vanguard topped all providers in terms of July inflows, while
        Fidelity suffered the greatest provider-level outflows as a result of
        large redemptions from two of its flagship active U.S. equity funds.
    --  Passive funds continued to dominate, collecting $14.1 billion in July
        compared with inflows of $0.3 billion for active funds.

To view the complete report, please visit http://www.global.morningstar.com/julyflows14. 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. References to and commentary about the above mentioned mutual funds should not be considered a solicitation to buy or sell that fund.

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 individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors. Morningstar provides data on approximately 473,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 12 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 investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $169 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2014. The company has operations in 27 countries.

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Media Contact:
Carling Spelhaug, +1 312 696-6150 or carling.spelhaug@morningstar.com

SOURCE Morningstar, Inc.