The $29 billion mutual-investment-fund industry, a glamorous financial phenomenon of the '50s, fell into a long slump after the 1962 stock market dive. Now mutual funds are finally regaining popularity with the investing public.
Last week the Investment Company Institute predicted that fund sales, after setting records for five months in a row, will climb 32% this year to an all-time record of $3.25 billion—10% above the old peak set in the 1961 bull stock market. The dollar volume of shares cashed in by investors has dropped from 61% of sales last year to 52% since June, indicating that the...