Takeaway: This past week saw a rebound in both equity and fixed income flows, albeit to just running year-to-date averages.

Investment Company Institute Mutual Fund Data and ETF Money Flow:

In the most recent 5 day period, absolute money flow into both equity and fixed income mutual funds rebounded week-to-week to near the year-to-date averages, reversing last week's negative trends:

Total equity mutual fund flow accelerated sequentially week-to-week, producing a tally only slightly below the 2014 year-to-date weekly average. The $3.5 billion that came into all equity mutual funds during the most recent 5 day period ending April 23rd was split between a $1.4 billion inflow into U.S. equity funds and an improved $2.1 billion inflow into international stock funds. This higher demand for foreign equity products has been consistent over the past two years with international stock fund inflow having averaged $2.9 billion per week this year and $2.6 billion per week last year in 2013 with domestic fund products averaging an inflow of just $1.3 billion thus far in '14 and a $451 million inflow last year in comparison. The 2014 running weekly average inflow for all equity mutual funds is now $4.1 billion, an improvement from the $3.0 billion weekly average inflow from 2013. 

Fixed income mutual fund flow also accelerated substantially on a w/w basis, reversing last week's trend lines in the product graphs below, which had displayed decreasing momentum for bond funds versus equity funds. For the week ending April 23rd, $2.3 billion flowed into all fixed income funds, as opposed to last week's paltry $659 million inflow. The improvement in bond fund inflow this week is the result of $1.7 billion that flowed into taxable products and $531 million that flowed into tax-free or municipal products. The inflow into taxable products this week was the 11th consecutive week of positive flow and the inflow into municipal or tax-free products was the 15th consecutive week of positive subscriptions. The 2014 weekly average for fixed income mutual funds now stands at a $1.9 billion weekly inflow, a vast improvement from 2013's weekly average outflow of $1.5 billion, but still a far cry from the $5.8 billion weekly average inflow from 2012 (our view of the blow off top in bond fund inflow).

ETFs experienced dramatically positive w/w changes in trends, with a notable week subscription for Bond ETFs, which experienced an inflow of $1.2 billion, in contrast to the previous week's $204 million inflow. Stock ETFs left last week's $2.2 billion outflow far behind, netting $193 million in new inflows last week. The 2014 weekly averages are now a $973 million weekly inflow for equity ETFs and a $931 million weekly inflow for fixed income ETFs. 

The net of total equity mutual fund and ETF trends against total bond mutual fund and ETF flows totaled a positive $276 million spread for the week ($3.7 billion of total equity inflow versus the $3.4 billion inflow within fixed income; positive numbers imply greater money flow to stocks; negative numbers imply greater money flow to bonds). The 52 week moving average has been $5.4 billion (more positive money flow to equities), with a 52 week high of $31.0 billion (more positive money flow to equities) and a 52 week low of -$37.5 billion (negative numbers imply more positive money flow to bonds for the week). 

Mutual fund flow data is collected weekly from the Investment Company Institute (ICI) and represents a survey of 95% of the investment management industry's mutual fund assets. Mutual fund data largely reflects the actions of retail investors. Exchange traded fund (ETF) information is extracted from Bloomberg and is matched to the same weekly reporting schedule as the ICI mutual fund data. According to industry leader Blackrock (BLK), U.S. ETF participation is 60% institutional investors and 40% retail investors.   

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 1

Most Recent 12 Week Flow in Millions by Mutual Fund Product:

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 2

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 3

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 4

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 5

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 6

Most Recent 12 Week Flow Within Equity and Fixed Income Exchange Traded Funds:

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 7

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 8

Net Results:

The net of total equity mutual fund and ETF trends against total bond mutual fund and ETF flows totaled a positive $276 million spread for the week ($3.7 billion of total equity inflow versus the $3.4 billion inflow within fixed income; positive numbers imply greater money flow to stocks; negative numbers imply greater money flow to bonds). The 52 week moving average has been $5.4 billion (more positive money flow to equities), with a 52 week high of $31.0 billion (more positive money flow to equities) and a 52 week low of -$37.5 billion (negative numbers imply more positive money flow to bonds for the week).

ICI Fund Flow Survey - Below Average Equity and Better than Average Fixed Income Flow - 9 

Jonathan Casteleyn, CFA, CMT 

 

 

Joshua Steiner, CFA