Vanguard Gets Record Deposits as Clients Return to Stocks

Vanguard Group Inc., the biggest U.S. mutual-fund firm, attracted a record $24.3 billion from clients in January, mostly into stocks, as signs of an improving U.S. economy have prompted investors to return to equities.

January’s deposits were more than 40 percent greater than the previous monthly record of $16.8 billion, achieved in the same month in 2012, John Woerth, a spokesman for Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard, said in an e-mail. About $20 billion of last month’s total went into stock-oriented mutual funds and exchange-traded products.