by Jack Fischer
During LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week that ended June 26, 2024, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including both conventional funds and ETFs) for the eighth week in 10, adding a net $14.3 billion.
This past week, money market funds (-$7.0 billion), tax-exempt bond funds (-$498 million), mixed-assets funds (-$297 million), and alternative investments funds (-$182 million) suffered outflows.
Equity funds (+$17.7 billion), taxable bond funds (+$4.7 billion), and commodities funds (+$284 million) posted net inflows.
Active (-$838 million) equity funds suffered outflows for the fourteenth straight week. Passive equity funds (+$16.4 billion) logged their first inflow in three weeks as they reported their largest weekly inflow of the year.
Both active (+$292 million) and passive (+$3.7 billion) fixed-income funds saw inflows. Passively managed fixed-income funds have recorded four consecutive weekly inflows.
In aggregate, spot bitcoin ETFs saw an outflow (-$550 million) over the week, which was only the third weekly outflow since launching in mid-January.
Index Performance
At the close of LSEG Lipper’s fund-flows week, U.S. broad-based equity indices reported mostly negative returns— Russell 2000 (-0.32%), Nasdaq (-0.32%), and S&P 500 (-0.17%). The DJIA (+0.72%) has seen three weekly gains in four.
Broad-based fixed-income indices also mostly recognized losses—FTSE U.S. Broad Investment Grade Bond Total Return Index (-0.56%) and FTSE Municipal Tax-Exempt Investment Grade Bond Index (-0.15%) saw sub-zero returns. The FTSE High Yield Market Total Return Index (+0.06%) logged its third gain over the prior four weeks.
The S&P/TSX Composite (+1.34%) and Nikkei 225 (+1.11%) recorded plus-side returns, while other overseas broad-based indices struggled—the DAX Total Return (-0.15%), FTSE 100 (-0.61%), and Shanghai Composite (-1.64) all returned their second week of losses in three.
Rates/Yields
Both the 2-year (+0.62%) and 10-year (+2.40%) Treasury yield rose over the course of the week. Since the start of the year, both yields have risen (+11.55% and +11.64%, respectively).
According to Freddie Mac, the 30-year fixed-rate average (FRM) decreased for the seventh week in eight, with the weekly average currently at 6.86%. Both the US Dollar Index (DXY, +0.76%) and VIX (+0.56%) increased over the course of the week.
For the next meeting, the CME FedWatch Tool has the likelihood of the Federal Reserve leaving interest rates unchanged at 89.7%. This tool forecasted a 10.2% possibility of a 25-bps cut one month ago. The next meeting is scheduled for July 31, 2024.
Exchange-Traded Equity Funds
Exchange-traded equity funds recorded a $20.9 billion weekly inflow—its first in three weeks. The macro-group posted a 0.34% loss on the week, its first week in the red in four.
Large-cap ETFs (+$22.4 billion), multi-cap ETFs (+$634 million), and mid-cap ETFs (+$369 million) posted the largest inflows. Under large-cap ETFs, the S&P 500 Index Funds Lipper classification rebounded from a bad two-week stretch, adding $21.7 billion—the fourth-largest weekly inflow on record for S&P 500 Index ETFs. Two weeks ago, the ETFs within this classification took home the headline, seeing its largest outflow on record (-$17.4 billion).
Developed international markets ETFs (-$1.2 billion), sector equity ETFs (-$867 million), and emerging markets equity ETFs (-$306 million) witnessed the top weekly outflows under equity ETFs.
Over the past fund-flows week, the two top equity ETF flow attractors were SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ASX:SPY) (SPY, +$14.5 billion) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:IVV) (IVV, +$6.8 billion).
Meanwhile, the two equity ETFs leading in weekly outflows were Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ) (QQQ, -$3.3 billion) and iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX) (SOXX, -$629 million).
Exchange-Traded fixed-income Funds
Exchange-traded taxable fixed-income funds observed a $5.7 billion weekly inflow—the macro group’s seventh weekly inflow in eight weeks. fixed-income ETFs reported a loss of 0.37% on average, marking the second sub-zero return in three weeks.
Government & Treasury ETFs (+$2.4 billion), general domestic taxable fixed-income ETFs (+$1.5 billion), and short/intermediate investment-grade ETFs (+$1.2 billion) were the top subgroups under taxable bond ETFs to observe inflows. Government & Treasury ETFs have posted 17 inflows over the last 20 weeks and have seen nine straight.
Emerging markets debt ETFs (-$44 million) and high yield ETFs (-$28 million) were the only taxable fixed-income subgroups to record an outflow on the week. Emerging markets debt ETFs have posted four weekly outflows in five weeks.
Municipal bond ETFs reported a $261 million outflow over the week, marking the first outflow in four weeks. Municipal bond ETFs also realized their first gain (-0.24%) in as many weeks.
iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NASDAQ:TLT) (TLT, +$2.1 billion) and iShares iBoxx $Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (NYSE:LQD) (LQD, +$877 million) attracted the largest amounts of weekly net new money under fixed-income ETFs.
On the other hand, SPDR Portfolio High Yield Bond ETF (NYSE:SPHY) (SPHY, -$351 million) and iShares TIPS Bond ETF (NYSE:TIP) (TIP, -$343 million) suffered the largest weekly outflows.
Conventional Equity Funds
Conventional equity funds (ex-ETFs) witnessed weekly outflows (-$5.4 billion) for the one-hundred-and-twenty-fourth straight week. Conventional equity funds posted a weekly return of negative 0.23%.
Large-cap funds (-$1.6 billion), mid-cap funds (-$933 million), and developed international markets funds (-$739 million) were the top conventional equity fund subgroups to realize weekly outflows. Large-cap conventional mutual funds logged their twenty-eighth outflow over the past 30 weeks, led by the Large-Cap Growth classification (-$1.4 billion).
No subgroup under conventional equity mutual funds reported an inflow over the trailing week.
Conventional fixed-income Funds
Conventional taxable-fixed-income funds realized an outflow of $1.3 billion—marking the eighth outflow over the past 10 weeks. The macro-group realized a loss of 0.31% on average—their fourth week in the red over the past six.
Short/intermediate investment-grade funds (-$830 million), high yield funds (-$203 million), and short/intermediate Government & Treasury funds (-$156 million) led taxable fixed-income subgroups in net outflows. Short/intermediate investment-grade funds suffered their eighth outflow in 10 weeks, led by the Core Plus Bond Funds classification (-$584 million).
Alternative bond funds (+$68 million) was the only taxable fixed-income subgroup to observe inflows over the week as they observed their ninth weekly intake in 10.
Municipal bond conventional funds (ex-ETFs) returned a negative 0.27% over the fund-flows week, giving the subgroup its first weekly loss in four. Tax-exempt fixed-income mutual funds experienced a $236 million outflow, marking the sixth outflow in seven weeks.