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Janus loses top spot again
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August 31, 2000: 12:58 p.m. ET
Fund company takes back seat to Vanguard as best-selling group in July
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - In addition to losing a top player recently and seeing its normally high-octane funds deliver lower-octane returns, Janus has ceded its spot as top money magnet of the month for the second month in a row, this time to Vanguard during the month of July.
Nevertheless, it remains by far the best-selling mutual fund group year to date, with net sales of $36 billion, according to Financial Research Corp., which tracks equity fund flows.
 The Denver-based company, whose Chief Investment Officer Jim Craig announced he would step down in September, saw $1.165 billion in net flows into its funds in July, down from $1.8 billion in June, when it placed No. 3 behind Fidelity and MFS.
Vanguard, which last held the No. 1 spot in September 1999, took in $1.967 billion in July, up from $365 million in the prior month.
U.S. stock funds as a group saw a decline in net flows during July. They took in $17.58 billion for the month, down from $22.14 billion in June.
Steeper decline anticipated for August
From the look of things, August will bring in considerably less net cash flow to Janus, which has been the best-selling fund group since October 1999, save June and July.
Through Aug. 25, the total net flow of money into the company's stock funds was $353.5 million, or $496 million for all its funds. "August is typically a pretty slow month," said Janus spokeswoman Shelly Grice.
Nevertheless, that's a far cry from the most flush months Janus has experienced this year. In February, its funds as a group had net flows of $10.1 billion in February; $9 billion in January; and $8.9 billion in March, according to Financial Research Corp.
The decline is not a mystery to Janus. Three factors have put the brakes on net flows, the top one very much Janus' doing. "We wanted to control our flows," Grice said, and the firm has done so by closing seven of its funds to new investment. Just this year, it cordoned off Janus Worldwide, Global Technology, Olympus, and Global Life & Sciences.
When you do that, she said, "you have to expect your net sales to slow."
But two other factors have also had an influence, she conceded: the departure of Jim Craig, and a volatile market that has humbled the aggressive-growth and technology-heavy funds for which Janus is known. "There are some folks sitting on the sidelines," Grice said. 
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