Lipper

Nervous investors pulled a net $8.9 billion from mutual funds (including conventional funds and exchange-traded funds [ETFs]) in the week ended June 5 as they looked for hints about when the Federal Reserve might begin scaling back its $85-billion bond-buying program. Tom highlights flows for both conventional mutual funds and ETFs in this week's fund flows video.

Equity mutual fund and ETF investors disagreed about the significance of Cyprus's banking crisis--watch the video to see where they ended up.

Excluding ETF activity, investors kept their foot on the peddle, padding the coffers of equity mutual funds by injecting $2.8 billion of net new money into the group--for its first eight-consecutive–week period of inflows since March 16, 2011. Conventional mutual fund investors took on a little more risk in the taxable fixed income funds space (+$2.9 billion), injecting $1.2 billion into Bank Loan Funds and Flexible Income Funds took in $1.4 billion. Tom highlights flows for both conventional mutual funds and ETFs in this week's fund flows video.

Mutual fund investors continued their New Year’s resolution to buy more stock funds; this past week they added another $2.6 billion to those accounts. Investors also continued to favor equity funds that are focused on companies outside the U.S., adding $1.7 billion in net sales to nondomestic equity funds and just $900 million to domestic equity mutual funds. Core portfolio holdings such as those in Lipper’s Large-Cap Core Funds (-$255 million) and S&P 500 Index Objective Funds (-$147 million) classifications led the losers column; investors favored multi- and small-cap fund strategies instead. Equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) had just $237 million of net inflows as investors remained noncommittal to SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which had an unremarkable outflow of $696 million; SPDR Gold (GLD) led the equity ETF outflows list at $1.4 billion.

During the first full week of fund flows for the new year, investors were net purchasers of fund assets to the tune of $34.2 billion. Equity funds, including exchange-traded funds (ETFs), took in a whopping $18.3 billion for the week ended Wednesday, January 9, 2013, their fourth largest net inflows since Lipper began calculating weekly flows in January 1992. Tom discusses the flows trends for the industry in this podcast.

During the week ended Wednesday, November 7, the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst one-day decline of the year--312.95 points--on the day after President Barack Obama secured a second term. With the presidential election over, investors began to contemplate the real possibility that the U.S. could plunge over the proverbial "fiscal cliff" if the government remains gridlocked. For the week investors were reluctant to make any major moves ahead of the election, even after U.S. consumer confidence improved in October, China's PMI survey pointed to an ongoing recovery, the ISM Manufacturing Index inched up in October, and October nonfarm payrolls increased a better-than-expected 171,000. Despite poor market returns for the week, fund investors injected almost $43.0 billion net into the funds business (including open-end funds and ETFs), allocating net new money into all of the major macro-classifications. Ahead of the election results investors padded the coffers of money market funds, depositing a net $31.1 billion, which erased the $23.5-billion outflows seen the prior week. For the first week in four equity funds witnessed net inflows (+$4.9 billion), while taxable bond funds (+$6.1 billion) attracted inflows for the seventeenth week in eighteen, and for the second consecutive week municipal bond funds (+$0.9 billion) attracted net new money.

A rough start to earnings season turned away equity fund investors this past week. Following the previous week’s first positive fund flows in nine weeks, equity fund investors pulled the plug on more additions and instead withdrew $200 million from their accounts for the week ended October 24, 2012. Domestic equity funds bore the brunt of the outflows with $806 million withdrawn, while nondomestic equity funds took in $605 million. Taxable bond funds had one of their better weeks this year, seizing about $3.6 billion. Investors continued to downshift their purchases of junk bond funds; the High Yield group posted inflows of just $86 million, while core-investment choice Corporate Investment-Grade Funds saw inflows of $1.3 billion and weak-dollar play International & Global Debt funds had inflows of about $370 million. Tax-exempt funds had inflows of about $576 million, while money market funds saw outflows of about $3.2 billion.

For the week ended Wednesday, September 26, the S&P 500 locked in its first five-day losing streak since the middle of July. After an unexpectedly strong equity showing earlier in September (equity funds were up 2.1% month to date through September 26 and 5.12% quarter to date), investors decided to take a little of their hard-won profits off the table during the week. They appeared to be focusing on the demonstrations in Spain and Greece, the dissenting QE3 opinion from nonvoting Federal Reserve member Charles Plosser, continued uncertainties surrounding the upcoming U.S. presidential election, and the looming “fiscal cliff.” These economic and geopolitical concerns outweighed the news that housing appeared to be improving over the last several months, with the S&P/Case-Shiller Composite rising for the fourth month in a row and July housing prices climbing 0.2%. Despite the poor performance, fund investors were net purchasers of fund assets, injecting $9.7 billion into the funds business (including open-end funds and ETFs). For the third consecutive week equity funds witnessed net inflows to the tune of $1.1 billion for the week (significantly muted from the prior two weeks), while money market funds (+$3.9 billion), taxable bond funds (+$4.0 billion), and municipal bond funds (+$0.6 billion) continued on their merry old way–attracting net new money. Tom Roseen discusses Lipper's U.S. Weekly fund flows.

Despite a week of performance that included seeing the Dow touch 13,000 for the first time since early May, equity mutual fund investors were sellers, yanking about $3.0 billion from their accounts. Much of the outflows were from their core holdings, large-cap funds, which saw $1.9 billion pulled away. Taxable bond fund investors were net investors but could only muster $1.4 billion this week, down from +$2.6 billion the week before. The top draw was again U.S. Mortgage Funds (+$572 million) of which DoubleLine Total Return Fund accounted for about $519 million in net new money. Like taxable bond fund investors, muni debt fund investors also eased off the accelerator this week and bought up about $480 million in muni funds, down from $750 million a week ago. In the short-term space, money market funds had net withdrawals of $4.4 billion, most of which was due to institutional investor activity.

Tom Roseen discusses Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows in the following podcast. For the first week in three, equity funds, excluding ETFs, witnessed net redemptions, losing $2.1 billion, with domestic equity funds suffering $1.9 billion in net redemptions and non-domestic equity funds handing back a little more than $140 million (their first net redemptions in 17 weeks). Dividend paying mutual funds (ex-ETFs) attracted net new money, with equity income funds drawing $233 million and real estate funds taking in $103 million. Despite declining yields and ignoring the quasi-flight to safety toward week end, open-end fund investors injected $1.4 billion into corporate high-yield debt funds and $911 million into corporate investment-grade debt funds. For the fifteenth consecutive week, municipal debt funds experienced net inflows, taking in $0.8 million to their coffers.

Overall, equity markets faired quite well this week as news over previous concerns in the Eurozone was quite muted and earnings were generally good among the tech giants and most U.S. banks. Investors took this in stride as U.S. markets ended the week up and investors injected roughly $6.1 billion into equity products. Although a large number, most of the inflows were once again attributed to SPDR S&P 500 Index ETF (SPY) which added 2.2 billion to its coffers. Taxable bond funds continue to garner assets as the group added $2.8 billion for the week. Although Corp-High Yield posted inflows of $821 million, most investors remained comfortable allocating cash to higher quality paper with Corp-Investment Grade products reporting net inflows of $1.1 billion. Municipal debt funds also posted net inflows at $837 million while money market accounts gave back $18.7 billion of their previous weeks inflows.

Equity mutual funds pulled in a little money from investors this week, reversing a three week outflow slide; all told, they took in about $450 million. Surprisingly, domestic equity funds accounted for most of the inflow total, about $445 million. Domestic equity ETF investors saw things differently, though, as they pulled a net $2.2 billion from their investments. Taxable bond funds had another solid week of inflows, this time for $3.0 billion; High Yield accounted for over $1.1 billion of the total. Municipal debt funds kept the inflows chugging along with another $670 million going their way. Money market funds had their best week of inflows since early-December 2011 with $22.5 billion added.

Though the dog days of summer aren’t quite upon us, mutual fund investor activity is already weary as equity fund investors made estimated net redemptions of just $129 million for the week ended June 27, 2012. Large-Cap Value Funds showed the most outflows among all equity groups with $563 million pulled from them while activity within Multi-Cap Growth Funds picked up as investors moved about $460 million into them. On the taxable bond funds side it was another good week for High Yield Funds (+$716 million) and U.S. Mortgage Funds (+$309 million) while investors pulled back from the popular Intermediate Investment Grade Debt Funds group (-$311 million). Muni bond fund investors still like what they see and chipped in another $587 million this week while money market funds saw about $7.1 billion in net inflows.

Jeff Tjornehoj discusses trends and events in this week's flows data.

After sealing the best week of the year for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (up 3.6%) on Friday, markets continued their erratic behaviour. Investors cheered the decision by China to cut its interest rates in order to prop up its economy along with the news that first-time filers for jobless benefits in the U.S. declined to 377,000. However, the reality of Spain asking European officials for rescue funds for its troubled banking sector along with Greece's upcoming elections placed a pall over the market. Investors were net redeemers, removing $391 million from the fund business (including open-end funds and ETFs) for the week ended Wednesday, June 13, 2012. However, the entirety of net outflows were from money market funds (-$11.7 billion), while equity funds took in $9.8 billion, taxable bond fund coffers attracted $1.1 billion in net new money, and municipal debt funds attracted $0.4 billion. Tom Roseen discusses Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows.

Tom Roseen discusses Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows. During the week the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its longest consecutive losing streak (eight days) since August 2, 2011, as investors contemplated Spain's partial nationalization of its fourth largest lender, Greece's struggle to form a coalition government after citizens rejected pro-austerity candidates throughout Europe, and April payroll figures disappointed, climbing just 115,000 verses an expected 163,000. However, Investors padded the coffers of the fund industry (including ETFs and open-end funds), injecting a net $3.4 billion for the week ended Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Conservative asset classes were the recipients of investors' cash, with money market funds attracting $4.4 billion (its first inflow in 11 weeks), taxable bond funds taking in $4.6 billion, and municipal debt funds, for the third consecutive week, drawing in $0.9 billion, while equity funds suffered $6.5 billion in net redemptions.

Matthew Lemieux reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended May 2, 2012. With generally negative economic news hitting the wire, it was quite surprising equity markets fared as well as they did. The tone was set in the U.S. with a lower than expected Q1 GDP result of 2.2%. That paired with the downgrade of Spanish debt and an increasing number of Eurozone countries falling into recession seemed to set the stage for redemptions in the fund space. Surprisingly, like the markets themselves, mutual funds—excluding money market products—kept investor’s interest as they reported net inflows of $2.9 billion for the week.

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended April 18, 2012. Ahead of the April 17 tax filing deadline, investors were net redeemers of fund assets (including ETFs), redeeming a net $2.3 billion for the week ended April 18, 2012. However, excluding money market funds redemptions (-$8.0 billion, their eight consecutive week of outflows), investors appeared to shrug off disappointing growth rate figures from China, a drop in consumer sentiment in April, and hints of rising borrowing costs for Spain, redeeming just $0.2 billion from equity funds, while padding the coffers of taxable bonds funds (+$5.7 billion) and municipal bond funds (+$0.2 billion).

After a spectacular run for the first quarter (with returns for the major indices ranging between 8.13% and 19.19%), investors pulled back slightly after hearing new home sales dipped 1.6% in February and global manufacturing data was weaker than expected, despite learning that jobless benefits declined to a four-year low last week. Many analysts believe the market is just taking a breather, and investors are taking some of their hard won profits off the table for spring break. Investors were net redeemers of fund assets for the week ended March 28, 2012, pulling out $10.0 billion from the funds business, including exchange-traded funds. Investors redeemed a net $2.6 billion from equity funds, while padding the coffers of taxable fixed income funds (+$4.4 billion) and tax-exempt bond funds (+$0.4 billion). However, for the fifth consecutive week, money market funds witnessed net outflows of $12.2 billion.

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended February 29, 2012. Despite lacklustre volume, investors were finally able to hold the Dow above 13,000 on Tuesday as the perception of the U.S. economy continued to improve. Although the index ended the week back below the coveted mark, mutual fund and ETFs investor seemed to share in the optimism as they injected $3.8 billion into the fund business. Overall, equity funds drew the majority of interest with net inflows of $7.5 billion. ETFs accounted for all the positive feelings as they posted gains of $7.7 billion—a stark comparison to their mutual fund brethren who continued to struggle with weekly outflows of $260 million. Taxable bond funds boasted their eleventh week of inflows with $3.0 billion as investors were once again split between investment grade funds (+$970 million) and High Yield (+$565 million) offerings. Municipal bond funds (+$357 million) posted net inflows for the week while money market funds pushed roughly $7.1 billion out their doors. Alternative asset classes also fared well as precious metal commodity funds drew in nearly $1.0 billion for the week—their largest weekly inflow since November 23, 2011.

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended November 16, 2011. Despite late-week European debt issues and new concerns about U.S. banks, mutual fund investors injected a net $10.0 billion into mutual funds--including ETFs--for the week ended November 16. Earlier in the week, investors cheered better-than-expected initial jobless claims, a jump in exports, and a 0.5%-leap in October retail sales and were net purchasers of equity funds, injecting $2.8 billion. Equity funds, including ETFs, witnessed their fifth consecutive week of net inflows; however, ex-ETFs saw their second week of outflows (-$0.2 billion). Interestingly, perhaps as a result of the on again/off again European debt issues, weary investors for the sixth consecutive week injected some $2.8 billion into taxable fixed income funds and for the second week in a row padded the coffers of money market funds to the tune of $2.9 billion. Municipal bond funds witnessed their sixth consecutive week of net inflows, taking in about $493 million.

After finishing up a sixth winning session in seven on Wednesday for the S&P 500, it was somewhat surprising to see mutual fund investors withdraw a net $2.6 billion from mutual funds--excluding ETFs--for the week ended October 12. Investors appeared to shrug off a better-than-expected nonfarm payroll report, a surge in equity indices, and a sixth round of loans for flailing Greece, and were net redeemers of equity funds, pulling out $3.1 billion. Despite finishing the week up 6.34%, equity funds suffered their fifth consecutive week of outflows. Interestingly, despite a decline in Treasury prices and a jump in yields because of a lackluster sale of the 3-year note on Tuesday, weary investors injected some $2.6 billion into taxable fixed income funds for the first week in three, while pulling out $2.2 billion from money market funds--their first week of net redemptions in three. Municipal bond funds witnessed their fifth week in six of net inflows, taking in about $52 million.

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended August 31, 2011. On the back of a four-day market rally, investors injected a net $14.1 billion into the funds business for the week ended August 31, 2011. Equity funds (including exchange traded funds [ETFs]) attracted their largest net inflows (+$6.3 billion) since May 4, 2011; however, ETF inflows accounted for the majority of net new money. Investors added a net $1.1 billion to the coffers of conventional equity funds (ex-ETFs), with Equity Income Funds taking in $0.9 billion. For the second consecutive week, taxable bond funds took in net money, attracting $1.8 billion, while municipal debt funds witnessed their sixth consecutive week of outflows (-$282 million), despite posting positive returns for the week.

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended August 10, 2011. Despite earning next to nothing in yields, shell-shocked investors injected a net $47.5 billion into money market funds for the week ended August 10, 2011, the largest weekly net inflow since January 2009. In an effort to stem the bleeding from the recent market freefall, investors took risk off their portfolios, redeeming $14.4 billion from equity funds (including exchange traded products) and $6.9 billion from fixed income funds (their second consecutive week of outflows and largest since the week ended August 10, 2008). Shrugging off the recent downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, investors injected some $749 million into U.S. Treasury funds, their largest net inflows since June 30, 2010, while high current yield funds and bank loan funds experienced significant redemptions. A few brave investors putting money back to work injected net flows into equity income funds (+$0.3 billion), commodity precious metals funds (+$1.6 billion), and international and global debt funds (+$0.2 billion).

Tom Roseen reviews Lipper's U.S. weekly fund flows for the week ended July 27, 2011. Despite learning about a slew of strong earnings reports and optimistic second-half guidance, the European Council’s agreement to support Greece, and improved consumer confidence, mutual fund investors remained rattled by the U.S. Congress debt ceiling stalemate and pulled a net $33.8 billion from the conventional mutual funds business--excluding ETFs--for the week ended July 27.