Investors were net sellers of mutual fund assets for the fifth month in a row, withdrawing $75.9 billion from the conventional funds business (excluding ETFs, which are reviewed in the section below) for October. For the twenty-first month in a row, stock & mixed-assets funds witnessed net outflows (-$75.3 billion) in October. However, investors continued plow money into fixed income instruments, pushing the fixed income funds macro-group to its sixth consecutive month of net inflows, injecting $45.2 billion for October. However, money market funds (-$45.9 billion) witnessed net outflows for the fifth consecutive month.
For the fourteenth month running, ETFs witnessed net inflows, taking in $31.6 billion for October. Authorized participants (APs—those investors who actually create and redeem ETF shares) were net purchasers of stock & mixed-assets ETFs for the fifth consecutive month, injecting $10.1 billion into equity ETF coffers. And for the seventh month in a row, they were net purchasers of bond ETFs—injecting $21.4 billion for October. APs were net purchasers of four of the five equity-based ETF macro-classifications, padding the coffers of Sector Equity ETFs (+$6.4 billion), World Equity ETFs (+$4.2 billion), Alternatives ETFs (+$256 million), and Mixed-Assets ETFs (+$184 million), while being net redeemers of U.S. Diversified Equity ETFs (+$875 million).
In this report, I highlight the October and year-to-date fund-flows results for both types of investment vehicles.
Highlights:
- For the fifth month in a row, mutual fund investors were net sellers of fund assets, withdrawing $75.9 billion from the conventional funds business for October.
- Fixed income funds (+$45.2 billion for October) witnessed net inflows for the sixth month in a row, while money market funds (-$45.9 billion) suffered net outflows. For the twenty-first consecutive month, investors were net redeemers of stock & mixed-assets funds (-$75.3 billion).
- APs were net purchasers of ETFs, injecting $31.6 billion for October, for the fourteenth month of consecutive inflows.
- And, for the seventh month running, APs were net purchasers of fixed income ETFs (+$21.4 billion), while padding the coffers of stock & mixed-assets ETFs (+$10.1 billion) for the fifth month running.
Click here to download the October 2020 FundFlows Insight Report: Investors Give the Cold Shoulder to U.S. Diversified Equity Funds and ETFs in October.
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