Takeaway: ICI has provided more detail in its weekly survey which will assist investors in pinpointing trends in the asset management sector.

Editor's Note: This is a complimentary research note which was originally published March 3, 2016 by our Financials team. If you would like more info on how you can access our institutional research please email sales@hedgeye.com.

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Investment Company Institute Mutual Fund Data and ETF Money Flow:

The weekly ICI survey has just become more robust with the Investment Company Institute now providing additional categories within domestic equities, world equities, and taxable bonds in its weekly fund flow information which canvasses 98% of all publlically traded mutual funds. Please let us know if you would like a copy of the underlying information. For example, a fairly general aggregation of international equity flows has now been broken out into Developed versus Emerging Market survey results which are very different in trajectory and magnitude.

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In the 5-day period ending February 24th, domestic equity funds had their second week of positive inflows in the last 22 weeks; investors contributed a net +$2.1 billion to the asset class with Large Cap (new category) driving the contribution. In fixed income funds, investors resumed withdrawals from the taxable bond category with investment grade outflows (new category) being offset by new risk taking in high yield (new breakout) which had a solid inflow. Meanwhile, tax-free munis continue to be the story for 2016 thus far taking in another +$1.0 billion in contributions (their 21st week of consecutive inflows). Money funds took in a large +$15 billion contribution last week, which is likely due to tax refund receipts and on going risk aversion.


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In the most recent 5-day period ending February 24th, total equity mutual funds put up net inflows of +$4.4 billion, outpacing the year-to-date weekly average outflow of -$346 million and the 2015 average outflow of -$1.6 billion.

 

Fixed income mutual funds put up net outflows of -$100 million, outpacing the year-to-date weekly average outflow of -$777 million and the 2015 average outflow of -$475 million.

 

Equity ETFs had net redemptions of -$5.0 billion, trailing the year-to-date weekly average outflow of -$4.5 billion and the 2015 average inflow of +$2.8 billion. Fixed income ETFs had net inflows of +$2.3 billion, trailing the year-to-date weekly average inflow of +$2.4 billion but outpacing the 2015 average inflow of +$1.0 billion.

 

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 2015 and the weekly year-to-date average for 2016:

 

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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.

 

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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 2015, and the weekly year-to-date average for 2016. In the third table are the results of the weekly flows into and out of the major market and sector SPDRs:

 

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Sector and Asset Class Weekly ETF and Year-to-Date Results: In sector SPDR callouts, investors flocked to gold last week, contributing +$1.9 billion or +7% to the GLD ETF.

 

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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.

 

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Net Results:

The net of total equity mutual fund and ETF flows against total bond mutual fund and ETF flows totaled a negative -$775 million spread for the week (+$1.5 billion of total equity inflow net of the +$2.2 billion inflow to fixed income; positive numbers imply greater money flow to stocks; negative numbers imply greater money flow to bonds). The 52-week moving average is +$438 million (more positive money flow to equities) with a 52-week high of +$20.5 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.)

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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:

 

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