Only six fund cos win as flows trickle
From The Wall Street Journal -- registration needed
Just six fund companies accounted for all of the net cash flows into fund companies, says Financial Research Corporation (FRC). The six are Vanguard, Janus, Fidelity, MFS, Pimco, and Alliance Capital. At just under $20 million ($19.7) fund flows were up from March ($11.22). April's pick up may be explained by tax-filers opening and funding last minute IRAs and early filers socking away refunds.

Will the assets return to funds?
From The Boston Globe
Fund companies cannot afford to be complacent about losing customers to brokerage accounts, write Syre & Stein. Stock and bond fund net sales are down to $63 billion during the first four months of 1999, down from $118 billion in 1998, according to data from the Financial Research Corporation (FRC). Meanwhile, online brokerage sales are up 30% to 35% says CS First Boston. Fund execs are taking comfort in the belief that their customers will come back when their is some market turbulence. The article points out, though, that banks said the same thing when they were losing customers. The MFWire.com's own perspective is that the Internet is changing the way fund customers get and use information. To get these customers back, fund companies will have to start explaining where they ad long-term value and stop emphasing performance only.

Dot coms threaten brokers too.
From The Wall Street Journal -- registration needed
Perhaps the most liked session at last week's ICI General Membership meeting was the panel with execs from Ebay, Priceline.com, and Dell. Most of the attendees the MFWire.com staff spoke with called the session their favorite since it opened a window on a very different way of looking at business. They had better get used to living on Internet time. Financial Engines, and Direct Advice are two of the dot coms taking aim at the fund industry profiled in today's Journal. We have identified more than a dozen firm's moving into this market. The paper points out that the brokers will be the first casualties if these start ups succeed in taking out their targets. 

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