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Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London: Latest fund flow research from Lipper shows that for the third month in a row, investors have been net purchasers of fund assets, bringing $8.6bn into the sector.

Tom Roseen, head of research services reported that equity funds rose fairly steadily during the month of January despite Standard & Poor’s and Fitch’s lowered long-term credit ratings on up to nine European countries’ sovereign debt. Roseen says: "Investors focused instead on better-than-expected earnings reports from the likes of Microsoft, IBM, and Apple; better-than-expected Q4 2011 Chinese GDP growth; and the FOMC’s announcement that it plans to hold rates low through at least 2014".

Other good news that may have spurred investors on was that early January saw the December US jobless rate fall to 8.5% (an almost-three-year low). Roseen says: "The Chicago ISM reported that business activity declined in January, driving yields down from inter-month highs. The seven- and ten-year Treasury yields declined as investors bid up the middle of the curve. Prices remained relatively unchanged for maturities of one year or less and for twenty years or greater. The benchmark ten year Treasury yield finished the month at 1.83%—6 basis points lower than December’s month-end value."

Money market funds saw net redemptions of $38.9bn which did not quite offset the $30.7bn inflows into bond b......................

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