Full-year inflows to bond funds in 2009, including traditional mutual funds and ETFs, reached a record high of $396 billion, according to a report by research firm Strategic Insight.
Long-term mutual funds, including stocks, bond funds and ETFs, experienced net inflows of $425 billion last year, according to the report.
Taxable bond funds had the highest net inflows in 2009, at $324 billion, followed by equity funds with $75 billion and U.S. equity funds with $6 billion.
Emerging markets saw net inflows of $55 billion; ETFs, $114 billion; and traditional index funds, $54 billion.
“There was a lot of demand for bond mutual funds last year,” Avi Nachmany, Strategic Insight director of research, said in a conference call, noting that the total return for bond funds averaged 17% in 2009.
