Investors were net redeemers of mutual fund assets for the third month in a row, redeeming $64.5 billion from the conventional funds business (excluding ETFs, which are reviewed in the section below) for March. For the twelfth month running, stock & mixed-assets funds experienced net outflows (-$23.4 billion). And as a result of the Federal Reserve Board hiking its key lending rate on March 16 by 25 basis points (bps) and with more to come, the fixed income funds macro-group—for the fourth consecutive month—witnessed net outflows, handing back $47.9 billion for March—its largest since March 2020. Money market funds (+$6.7 billion) took in money for the first month in three.
For the fourteenth straight month, ETFs witnessed net inflows, taking in $94.7 billion for March. Authorized participants (APs—those investors who actually create and redeem ETF shares) were net purchasers of stock & mixed-assets ETFs for the twenty-second consecutive month, injecting $74.6 billion into equity ETF coffers. For the second month in a row, they were net purchasers of bond ETFs—injecting $20.2 billion for the month. APs were net purchasers of all five equity-based ETF macro-classifications, padding the coffers of U.S. Diversified Equity ETFs (+$51.2 billion), Sector Equity ETFs (+$12.6 billion), World Equity ETFs (+$7.3 billion), Alternatives ETFs (+$3.1 billion), and Mixed-Assets ETFs (+$334 million).
In this report, I highlight the March 2022 fund-flows results and trends for both ETFs and conventional mutual funds (including variable annuity underlying funds).
Highlights:
- For the third straight month, mutual fund investors were net redeemers of fund assets, withdrawing $64.6 billion from conventional funds for March.
- Fixed income funds (-$47.9 billion for March) witnessed net outflows for the fourth month in a row, while money market funds (+$6.7 billion) attracted net money for the first month in three.
- For the twelfth straight month, investors were net sellers of stock & mixed-assets funds (-$23.4 billion).
- APs were net purchasers of ETFs, injecting $94.7 billion for March, for their fourteenth month of consecutive inflows.
- And, for the second month in a row, fixed income ETFs (+$20.2 billion for March) witnessed net inflows while investors padded the coffers of stock & mixed-assets ETFs (+$74.6 billion), their twenty-second straight month of net inflows.
- For the twelfth month running, alternatives ETFs witnessed net inflows (+$3.1 billion for March, its strongest monthly inflows since April 2020).
Click here to download the March 2022 FundFlows Insight Report: Investors Favor Domestic Equity ETFs Over Conventional Funds in March.
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