Are the outflows from funds sold through supermarkets slowing? A look at Schwab's earnings report released today suggests that they may be. The San Francisco broker reported that assets in its Mutual Funds OneSource program have remained fairly constant since the third quarter of last year at roughly $70 billion.

The last steep decline in Schwab's supermarket apparently came during the market sell off in September. The broker reported that OneSource assets plunged to $70 billion from nearly $81 billion at the end of the second quarter. OneSource assets had peaked at more than $90 billion at the end of the first quarter of last year.

Since the third quarter assets in the program have held steady. At year-end 2002 Schwab reported $73.6 billion. That figure slipped 2.4 percent to $71.8 billion at the end of this year's first quarter, Schwab officials reported.

Assets of non-Schwab funds held through non-OneSource accounts have stayed steadier. Those accounts have jumped between $66 billion and $80 billion over the past two years.

Meanwhile, Schwab has had little success in building its proprietary funds over the past two years. Assets in its bond and stock funds have held steady at between $25 billion and $30 billion. They finished the first quarter at $27.4 billion, down slightly from $27.7 billion at the end of 2002 despite the addition of a new GNMA fund. The bulk of Schwab's fund assets -- $132.4 at last count -- are parked in its money market funds.  

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