For the eighth month in a row, Vanguard [profile] took the top inflow spot in the industry. Yet May was also a big month for Invesco [profile].

Alina Lamy Morningstar, Inc Markets Research Senior Specialist

Yesterday Morningstar released the "Morningstar Direct U.S. Asset Flows Update" for May 2016. The report was penned, as per usual, by markets research senior analyst Alina Lamy.

M* estimates that Vanguard brought in $21.781 billion in net flows in May, up slightly from $21.323 billion in April. The other top inflow winners were: Invesco (including PowerShares [profile]), $2.735 billion; Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA [profile]), $2.122 billion; DoubleLine [profile], $1.356 billion; and TCW's MetWest [profile], $1.331 billion.

Proportionately, DoubleLine was the biggest inflow winner last month among the big fund firms, bringing in net flows amounting to 1.86 percent of AUM. The other top inflow winners proportionately were: TCW, 1.56 percent; Invesco, 1.17 percent; TIAA [profile] (including Nuveen [profile]), 0.75 percent ($1.2 billion); and DFA, 0.75 percent.

On the flip side, BlackRock [profile] was the biggest sufferer last month, with an estimated $4.786 billion in net outflows (including iShares [profile]). The other top-five shops by outflows in May were: Franklin Templeton [profile], $3.652 billion; State Street Global Advisors (SSgA [profile]), $2.748 billion; GMO [profile], $1.786 billion; and Fidelity [profile], $1.481 billion.

Proportionately, May's biggest outflows came from GMO, with estimated outflows amounting to 2.93 percent of AUM, even as that shop is reportedly trimming its headcount by 10 percent. The other big outflow sufferers last month, proportionately, were: Harris Associates' Oakmark [profile], 1.58 percent of AUM ($1.106 billion); Goldman Sachs [profile], 1.43 percent ($1.184 billion); Putnam [profile], 1.31 percent ($836 million); and AB [profile], 0.98 percent ($629 million).

Industrywide, M* estimates that long-term active mutual funds suffered $13.537 billion in net outflows in May, up from $10.775 billion in April. $21.917 billion in net flows in May went into long-term passive funds, while $2.256 billion net flowed into money market funds.

Within long-term active funds, U.S. equity funds were the biggest sufferers in May with $18.701 billion in net outflows, down from $20.3 billion in April. Other outflow suffering categories of long-term active funds included: international equity, $4.546 billion in net outflows (up from $3.994 billion in April); allocation, $2.619 billion (up from $2.499 billion); sector equity, $2.142 billion (up from $1.623 billion); and alternative, $384 million (up from $118 million).

On the positive side, three categories of long-term active funds gained net inflows in May: municipal bond, $7.539 billion (up from $5.631 billion in April); taxable bond, $7.276 billion (down from $11.691 billion); and commodities, $40 million (down from $438 million). 

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