Mutual Fund Inflows Rise 46%

Investors added a net $29.1 billion to stock and bond mutual funds in February, a jump of 46% from January’s inflows, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday.

Los Angeles-based American Funds again took the biggest share of the cash inflows, according to a separate report from data firm Financial Research Corp. The fund manager’s stock and bond portfolios took in a net $7.9 billion in February.

Vanguard Group was the second-best-selling fund company, with a net inflow of $5.6 billion, Financial Research said.

A rally in the stock market in February apparently helped spur more buying of equity funds, after a decline in share prices in January. Stock funds took in a net $22.4 billion in February, up from $10 billion in January, according to the institute, the industry’s trade group.

Bond and so-called hybrid (stock and bond) funds had a net inflow of $6.7 billion last month, down from $9.9 billion in January, the institute said.

Stock fund investors last month again favored foreign-stock portfolios over domestic-stock portfolios: U.S.-based foreign funds took in nearly $12 billion, compared with $10.5 billion for domestic-stock funds.