Overview
US equity exchange-traded funds recorded inflows of $27.8 billion during the week ended August 19, up from $7.9 billion the previous week. That rise was a major factor in total retail inflows excluding money market instruments, which reached $40.3 billion compared with $23.5 billion in the prior week.
ETF versus mutual fund activity
ETFs captured the bulk of investor demand, drawing $49.6 billion of inflows over the week. In contrast, mutual funds excluding money markets saw net redemptions totaling $9.3 billion. Within the mutual fund complex, US equity mutual funds posted outflows of $7.6 billion, an improvement from $8.5 billion of outflows in the previous week.
Fixed income flows
Taxable bond ETFs continued their lengthy run of net inflows, extending the streak to 72 consecutive weeks. Taxable bond ETFs recorded $12.0 billion of inflows for the week, slightly below the $12.9 billion reported in the prior week. On the mutual fund side, taxable bond mutual funds posted inflows of $0.5 billion, up from $0.3 billion the week before.
Municipal bond ETFs attracted $1.0 billion of inflows, an increase from $0.5 billion the prior week. Municipal bond mutual funds, however, reversed course and experienced outflows of $0.1 billion after registering $0.8 billion of inflows in the previous week.
International and money market flows
International equity ETFs recorded inflows of $5.6 billion, marking the 71st consecutive week of positive flows for that category, though that was below the $7.1 billion recorded the prior week. International mutual funds saw outflows totaling $2.2 billion during the week.
Money market funds recorded modest outflows of $0.9 billion in the latest week, reversing the prior weeks inflows of $3.5 billion.
Implications
The weekly data show a clear preference among investors for ETF wrappers over mutual funds during this period, with significant demand concentrated in US equity ETFs and continued appetite for taxable bond ETFs. At the same time, certain mutual fund categories, including US equity and international mutual funds, experienced net redemptions.
Data presented reflect weekly flows for the period ending August 19 and compare those figures with the prior week where noted.