The data in the article below is sourced from Lipper’s Global Fund Flows application. GFF can be found on LSEG Workspace (“FundFlows”).
During LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week that ended April 3, 2024, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including both conventional funds and ETFs) for the first week in three, adding a net $76.6 billion—tenth largest weekly total since the start of 2015.
Money market funds (+$69.9.8 billion), taxable bond funds (+$7.1 billion), commodities funds ($642 million), alternative investments (+$231 million), and tax-exempt bond funds (+$80 million) all took in weekly inflows.
Equity funds (-$941 million) and mixed-assets funds (-$448 million) reported outflows over the week.
Money market funds reported second-largest weekly inflow over the last 52 weeks, marking the first weekly inflow in three as we move past tax season.
Spot bitcoin ETFs reported net inflows of $180 million, marking the thirteenth straight weekly inflow since these launched. Both ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB, -$60 million) and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC, -$783 million) were the only two spot bitcoin ETFs to post weekly outflows.
Index Performance
At the close of LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week, U.S. broad-based equity indices reported negative returns—the DJIA (-1.59%), Nasdaq (-0.74%), Russell 2000 (-1.80%), and S&P 500 (-0.71%) were in the red, marking only the third weekly loss in the past 11.
Both the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Total Return Index (-0.58%) and Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Total Return Index (-0.79%) fell over the week. The Bloomberg Municipal Bond Total Return Index has declined in three straight weeks.
Overseas indices realized mostly mixed returns—DAX (-0.57%), FTSE 100 (-0.01%), and Nikkei 225 (-3.49%) saw losses, while the S&P/TSX Composite (+0.54%) and the Shanghai Composite (+2.44%) posted gains.
Rates/Yields
Both the two- (+2.37%) and 10-year (+3.80%) Treasury yields rose over the course of the week.
According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average (FRM) increased for the second time in the last three weeks—the weekly average is currently at 6.82%. The United States Dollar Index (DXY, -0.09%) fell, while the VIX (+10.82%) rose over the course of the week.
The CME FedWatch Tool currently has the likelihood of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) at 8.5%. This tool forecasted a 20.5% possibility of a 25-bps cut one month ago. The next meeting is scheduled for May 1, 2024.
Exchange-Traded Equity Funds
Exchange-traded equity funds recorded $5.8 billion in weekly net inflows, marking six consecutive weeks of inflows. The macro-group posted a 0.63% loss on the week, its first week of declines in nine.
Developed international markets ETFs (+$2.0 billion), equity income ETFs (+$861 million), and small-cap ETFs (+$654 million) attracted the top inflows among the equity ETF subgroups. Developed international market ETFs observed their second largest weekly inflow of the year as they report their fifteenth straight intake.
World sector equity ETFs (-$6 million) was the only macro-group to suffer weekly outflow under equity ETFs. For the first week in five, world sector equity ETFs observe a weekly outflow thanks to the $72 million outflow from ETFs in the Lipper Global Natural Resources classification.
Over the past fund-flows week, the two top equity ETF flow attractors were iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV, +$788 million) and iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA, +$781 million).
Meanwhile, the two bottom equity ETFs in terms of weekly outflows were SPDR S&O 500 ETF Trust (SPY, -$1.2 billion) and Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL, -$670 million).
Exchange-Traded Fixed Income Funds
Exchange-traded taxable fixed income funds observed a $1.3 billion weekly inflow—the macro-group’s fourteenth inflow over the prior 15 weeks. Fixed income ETFs reported a loss of 0.80% on average, their second sub-zero return in three weeks.
General domestic taxable fixed income ETFs (+$809 million), short/intermediate investment-grade ETFs (+$707 million), and alternative bond ETFs (+$340 million) were the top subgroups under taxable bond ETFs to observe inflows. General domestic taxable fixed income ETFs have seen nine weeks of inflows over the last 10.
High yield funds (-$776 million), short/intermediate government & Treasury ETFs (-$134 million), and emerging market debt ETFs (-$45 million) were the top subgroups to post net outflows. High yield funds have reported six weekly outflows in the past eight weeks.
Municipal bond ETFs reported a $390 million outflow over the week, marking the group’s second weekly inflow in three. Municipal bond ETFs have suffered from three straight weeks of negative returns.
iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT, +$735 million) and iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG, +$565 million) attracted the largest amounts of weekly net new money for taxable fixed income ETFs.
On the other hand, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC, -$783 million) and iShares iBoxx $High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG, -$373 million) and suffered the largest weekly outflows under all taxable fixed income ETFs.
Conventional Equity Funds
Conventional equity funds (ex-ETFs) witnessed weekly outflows (-$6.8 billion) for the one-hundred-and-twelfth straight week. Conventional equity funds posted a weekly return of negative 0.64%, the first week of realizing a loss over the last nine.
Large-cap (-$1.5 billion), multi-cap funds (-$1.3 billion), and small-cap funds (-$749 million) were the top conventional equity fund subgroups to realize weekly outflows. Large-cap conventional mutual funds witnessed their sixteenth consecutive week of outflows.
No conventional mutual fund subgroup posted weekly net inflows.
Conventional Fixed Income Funds
Conventional taxable-fixed income funds realized a weekly inflow of $5.8 billion—marking their thirteenth weekly inflow in 14 weeks. The macro-group logged a negative 0.54% on average—their third weekly decline in four.
Short/intermediate investment-grade funds (+$3.6 billion), general domestic taxable fixed income funds (+$1.0 billion), and high yield funds (+$517 million) were the top subgroups to post inflows on the week. Short/intermediate investment-grade mutual funds have observed 14 consecutive weekly inflows.
Emerging markets debt funds (-$8 million) was the only taxable fixed income mutual fund subgroups to post weekly net outflows.
Municipal bond conventional funds (ex-ETFs) returned a negative 0.71% over the fund-flows week, giving the subgroup three consecutive weeks of losses. Tax-exempt fixed income mutual funds experienced a $470 million inflow, marking the fourth week of inflows over the trailing five weeks.
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