US investors go large on domestic equities while the rest of the world backpedals   Sentiment is fickle, particularly so regarding US equities at the moment. As the year turned, the IMF had revised US growth expectations upward and investors were looking forward to the wind in their sails, with returns elevated by tax cuts and deregulation promised by the new administration. As I write, the S&P 500 is down almost 5%, posting its worst quarterly performance since 2022. How are fund investors responding? In aggregate, global fund flow data doesn’t show a rush for the exits—so far. Over Q4

Asset class view UK mutual funds and ETFs saw outflows of £6.76bn over February (-£5.12bn ex-MMFs). Equities saw the largest redemptions (-£3.48bn). Active v passive The active-to-passive bond rotation, which has been a feature of the market since 2021, reversed. Some £3.73bn was redeemed from passive bond funds, while their active peers took £1.49bn. Classifications Equity Global was the top-selling classification for the month, netting £1.87bn (£1.18bn active/£689m passive). UK equity funds suffered redemptions of £2.77bn over the month. Sustainable fund flows Sustainable funds netted a total of £367m for the month, conventional funds lost £8.26bn. MMFs were the most

Total flows to mutual funds for February were €76.91bn. This breaks down to: mutual fund flows (+€43.16 bn) and ETFs (+€33.75bn). Bond funds (+€25.83bn) were the best-selling asset type overall for February, followed by MMFs (+€25.28bn) and equity funds (+€23.07bn). ETFs continue to eat passive mutual funds’ lunch, as the former benefitted from inflows of €33.75bn while the latter shed €5.73bn in February (-€2.77bn YTD). European investors allocated €22.99bn into Money Market USD funds—the best-selling classification for the month. Turkish lira MMFs saw the largest sell off (-€3.43bn), with investors reversing their bets on the currency strengthening.   As S&P

February 2025 was another month with strong inflows for the U.S. ETF industry. These inflows occurred in a volatile market environment in which investors around the globe acted nervous over any political and economic news. Investor sentiment was impacted by the discussions around tariffs by the U.S. president and potential tit-for-tat reactions from the markets which are the targets of the new tariffs. That said, the tariffs are seen as a kind of trade war between the U.S. and the rest of the world by some market observers. When it comes to this, investors were concerned about a political shift

Headlines are grim for sustainable investments. But headlines are frequently misleading. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the figures suggest reports of its death may be somewhat premature. First of all, though, a caveat: how one defines “sustainable” greatly affects the calculation, as does the market on which one focuses. Here I’m focusing on the UK market, with a rather restricted definition of “sustainable”: all SFDR Article 9 funds plus those containing indicative sustainable keywords in the name. This gives a narrower universe than, for instance, including all integration-based strategies. What does the data show? Equities finished 2024 as the most successful

Highlights US fixed income markets show higher January returns, but statistical tests confirm no significant “January effect.” Fund flows shift seasonally, with investors moving from money markets to bonds in January. September is the real outlier, showing a statistically significant decline across US Treasuries and investment-grade bonds. What is the January effect? January effect is a well-known market anomaly, where stocks—especially small caps—experience higher monthly performance in January than during the remaining months of the year. Recent data shows that the January effect in stock markets has become less pronounced over time. But there’s been far less research into whether US

    Mutual funds (+€45.96 bn) and ETFs (+€28.98 bn) enjoyed inflows for the month, with total estimated net inflows of €74.96 bn over the course of January 2025 Money market funds (+€25.08 bn) were the best-selling asset type. This was followed by equity funds (+€23.29 bn) and bond funds (+€21.79 bn). For long-term assets only, ETFs net €27.32bn compared to €18.02bn for actively managed funds. Money Market EUR (+€15.22bn) was the best-selling classification, followed by Equity US (+€10.7bn), then Equity Global (+€10.2bn). BlackRock (+€8.53 bn) was the best-selling fund promoter in Europe for January.   The European fund industry

Asset class view Money market funds (MMFs) saw the largest inflows, with £6.7bn Bond inflows were less than half of Decembers, at £1.61bn—the lowest since last September’s redemptions. Active v passive Mutual funds and ETFs took £6.4bn over January, with redemptions of £303m excluding MMF. Active equity strategies suffered the largest redemptions, shedding £3.13bn. Classifications Outside of cash, investors favoured US and global equities, alongside USD and GBP investment grade bond funds. UK equity funds suffered redemptions of about £1.7bn over the month. Sustainable fund flows Sustainable flows were positive for MMFs (£33m) and bonds (£133m). Sustainable equity funds suffered

The global ETF industry enjoyed general inflows over the course of January 2025. These inflows occurred in a mainly positive but volatile market environment. The markets were driven by the effects around the inauguration of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president. On one hand, investors appreciated the expected positive impacts on the U.S. economy from the new administration. Meanwhile, they feared the impacts from possible tariffs, which may cause a global trade war as an unwanted side-effect and higher government spending on inflation and, therefore, on the resulting policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve. That said, the high valuations

January 2025 was another month with strong inflows for the European ETF industry. These inflows occurred in a mainly positive but volatile market environment. The markets were driven by the effects around the inauguration of Donald Trump as the next U.S. president. On one hand, investors appreciated the expected positive impacts on the U.S. economy from the new administration. Meanwhile, they feared the impacts from possible tariffs, which may cause a global trade war as an unwanted side-effect and higher government spending on the inflation and, therefore, on the resulting policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve. That said, the high

That 2024 was the year for US equities will shock no one, with all eyes on the Magnificent Seven stocks. Investors have been transfixed by AI, and the US mega caps are believed best positioned to deliver them. Nevertheless, this run is more than a gargantuan “meme” run, with the likes of Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia delivering strong earnings, and consensus being that they will continue to do so. To hedge my bets, that’s not a recommendation either way: consensus has often been wrong footed, from the global financial crisis way back to Tulipmania. However, UK fund investors’ 2024 can

After nearly two years of declining revenue and earnings, JB Hunt Transport Services (JBHT.O) is hopeful for brighter days ahead. JB Hunt reported its latest quarterly results and using LSEG StreetEvents Transcript data, we take note of the declaration from management that we are at or near the end of the worst freight recession ever experienced. Our approach leverages a structured process to analyze earnings call, extracting key insights, and have identified that the company highlighted an increase in both volumes and customer counts, along with two consecutive quarters of record intermodal volume. Rail peers including CSX and Union Pacific