Thumbs Up: Fund Streak

After getting clobbered back inearly 2003, stock mutual fundsmounted a 20-month winning streakthrough October 2004. Money cominginto funds has outpaced moneygoing out since April 2003, with thenet gain in October 2004 reaching$7.1 billion, according to the InvestmentCompany Institute, themutual fund trade group. Preliminaryestimates forecast that the streakwould continue through the beginningof this year. As of the end ofOctober, assets held in stock fundswere close to $4 trillion, up 2% fromthe previous month. Assets held in allmutual funds totaled $7.6 trillion, ofwhich $1.9 trillion was held in moneymarket funds.