Takeaway: The domestic equity outflow streak has maintained the fastest pace on record and is now the third longest running.

Investment Company Institute Mutual Fund Data and ETF Money Flow:

In the 5-day period ending December 2nd, investors withdrew another -$8.0 billion from domestic equity mutual funds, bringing the year-to-date total outflow to -$155.0 billion. Additionally, the table below shows that the current streak of redemptions is running at -$3.9 billion per week, the fastest pace on record which has now aggregated to -$157.8 billion in total drawdown, the second largest in history (we define a streak as being intact unless broken by 4 consecutive weeks of subscriptions). Meanwhile, equity ETFs continue to mop up flows with +$6.6 billion in subscriptions in the most recent 5 days as investors favor passive exposure. We continue to recommend a short position in shares of T. Rowe Price as a way to express this ongoing shift out of active products (see our TROW reports).

In other asset classes, total fixed income flows (including mutual funds and ETFs) were moderately weak at -$206 million following Fed Chair Yellen's hawkish testimony. Additionally, investors displayed some risk aversion by shoring up +$18 billion in money market funds last week.

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI19

 

In the most recent 5-day period ending December 2nd, total equity mutual funds put up net outflows of -$8.9 billion, trailing the year-to-date weekly average outflow of -$1.0 billion and the 2014 average inflow of +$620 million. The outflow was composed of international stock fund withdrawals of -$890 million and domestic stock fund withdrawals of -$8.0 billion. International equity funds have had positive flows in 42 of the last 52 weeks while domestic equity funds have had only 8 weeks of positive flows over the same time period.

 

Fixed income mutual funds put up net outflows of -$1.0 billion, trailing the year-to-date weekly average inflow of +$75 million and the 2014 average inflow of +$926 million. The outflow was composed of tax-free or municipal bond funds contributions of +$918 million and taxable bond funds withdrawals of -$2.0 billion.

 

Equity ETFs had net subscriptions of +$6.6 billion, outpacing the year-to-date weekly average inflow of +$2.4 billion and the 2014 average inflow of +$3.2 billion. Fixed income ETFs had net inflows of +$829 million, trailing the year-to-date weekly average inflow of +$1.1 billion and the 2014 average inflow of +$1.0 billion.

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI1

 

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.



Most Recent 12 Week Flow in Millions by Mutual Fund Product: Chart data is the most recent 12 weeks from the ICI mutual fund survey and includes the weekly average for 2014 and the weekly year-to-date average for 2015:

 

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Cumulative Annual Flow in Millions by Mutual Fund Product: Chart data is the cumulative fund flow from the ICI mutual fund survey for each year starting with 2008.

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI12

 

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ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI15

 

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Most Recent 12 Week Flow within Equity and Fixed Income Exchange Traded Funds: Chart data is the most recent 12 weeks from Bloomberg's ETF database (matched to the Wednesday to Wednesday reporting format of the ICI), the weekly average for 2014, and the weekly year-to-date average for 2015. In the third table are the results of the weekly flows into and out of the major market and sector SPDRs:

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI7

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI8



Sector and Asset Class Weekly ETF and Year-to-Date Results: In sector SPDR callouts, investors withdrew -$367 million or -6% from the long treasury TLT ETF following Fed Chairwoman Yellen's testimony that signaled a high probability of a rate hike later this month.

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI9



Cumulative Annual Flow in Millions within Equity and Fixed Income Exchange Traded Funds: Chart data is the cumulative fund flow from Bloomberg's ETF database for each year starting with 2013.

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI17

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI18



Net Results:

The net of total equity mutual fund and ETF flows against total bond mutual fund and ETF flows totaled a negative -$2.0 billion spread for the week (-$2.2 billion of total equity outflow net of the -$206 million outflow from fixed income; positive numbers imply greater money flow to stocks; negative numbers imply greater money flow to bonds). The 52-week moving average is +$857 million (more positive money flow to equities) with a 52-week high of +$27.9 billion (more positive money flow to equities) and a 52-week low of -$19.0 billion (negative numbers imply more positive money flow to bonds for the week.)

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI10

 


Exposures:
The weekly data herein is important for the public asset managers with trends in mutual funds and ETFs impacting the companies with the following estimated revenue impact:

 

ICI Fund Flow Survey | 40 Weeks and Counting - ICI11 



Jonathan Casteleyn, CFA, CMT 

 

 

 

Joshua Steiner, CFA