Commodity funds see big asset inflows

According to a report from Lipper quoted by MarketWatch, commodity-related funds have seen the biggest in-flows over the year. This is somewhat interesting given that money is flowing into sectors that aren't necessarily the top-perfomring sectors (often, money chases momentum and flows into the best-performing sectors.) It's clearly the sign that market participants, at least the retail investors, are betting heavily on inflation.
Commodities funds saw positive flows each month from the beginning of March 2009 through February, and swallowed two-thirds of all new money heading into sector stock funds, and more than a quarter of net inflows for all stock funds, according to fund tracker Lipper Inc. Commodities funds account for just 8% of all sector funds.
The bear remains in hibernationWhile the stock market is ripe for a pullback, ingredients for a more momentous market top are absent, reports Barron's Michael Santoli.

In those 12 months, the funds have seen total net inflow of $12.2 billion. The only other sector category that saw more than $1 billion in net inflows was gold-oriented funds.

Total net inflows into all stock funds for the period were $44 billion.

The inflows represent 23% of total assets among the 144 commodities funds -- a big uptick for a relatively small slice of the market.

This isn't a case of investors chasing hot returns: Among Lipper's 20 sector stock fund categories, commodities funds have lagged each month and, excepting utility funds, are the worst-performing category.

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