For mutual fund investors, staying up to date on big industry news can be very important. Below are some of the biggest mutual fund news pieces for the week ended December 19.

This week, Smead Capital Management fund manager Bill Smead published a report titled Where Did The New Middle Class Citizens Go? He notes that investor focus is primarily on the weak global economy and falling oil prices, but investors should have a longer-term view.

The report notes that the falling oil prices could be indicative of something much larger. According to Bill Smead, the falling prices could be “the unwinding of a globally synchronized trade.” For more information, check out the report
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On December 12, Morningstar reported monthly mutual fund and exchange-traded funds outflows for November. According to the report, active U.S. equity funds saw outflows of $91.9 billion, and passive U.S. equity funds gained $156.1 billion.

Vanguard led on inflows, seeing $20.7 billion in November. In November, the PIMCO Total Return and PIMCO Low Duration were the most active funds. For more information, click here.

Zack’s has ranked the best mutual funds for large caps. The following mutual funds are expected to outperform their peers in the future:

• Thrivent Large Cap Growth A (AAAGX)
• American Century Legacy Focused Large Cap Advisor (ACFDX)
• ClearBridge Aggressive Growth A (Liquid error: internal)
• Cavanal Hill US Large Cap Equity A (AAEQX)
• Bridgeway Large-Cap Growth (BRLGX)

For additional information, click here.

Royce Funds’ portfolio manager Chris Flynn recently explained the importance of volatility in the markets. He noted that “People are made nervous by volatility. It scares people away. I welcome volatility. It creates opportunity. So when there’s turbulence and when there’s uncertainty, that’s where the opportunities come up.”

To read more, check out the full article.