Money funds drove a $113.8-billion drop in net industry flows this week, according to the latest data from the LSEG Lipper team, with nearly all other mutual fund and ETF types also taking flows hits. It was the second consecutive weekly flows drop of more than $100 billion, and it led to the industry having its worst flows week in nearly 15 years.

Jack Fischer LSEG Lipper Senior Research Analyst

In the U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight report for the week ending April 17, 2024 (i.e. Wednesday), Jack Fischer, senior research analyst at LSEG Lipper, confirms that $143.5 billion net flowed out of mutual funds and ETFs in the U.S. this week. It was the industry's fourth week of outflows in five weeks and its largest weekly outflows since September 2009, up from $29.7 billion in net outflows last week. Long-term (i.e. non-money-market) funds suffered $25 billion in net outflows this week, down week-over-week from $5.6 billion in net inflows.

Alternatives were a rare flows bright spot this week. Alternative funds brought in $117 million in net inflows, down W/W from $571 million.

On the flip side, money market funds dominated overall industry flows yet again, thanks to an estimated $118.5 billion in net outflows this week, up W/W from $35.3 billion. This week was money funds' third highest outflows week ever and their highest in more than 20 years, i.e. since December 2003.

Other outflows suffering categories this week included: equity funds, $19.5 billion in net outflows (up W/W from $1 billion); taxable fixed income funds, $3.2 billion in net outflows (down W/W from $6 billion in net inflows); municipal bond funds, $1.5 billion in net outflows (down W/W from $415 million in net inflows); mixed assets funds, $711 million in net outflows (up W/W from $168 million); and commodities funds, $216 million in net outflows (up W/W from $207 million).

Equity ETFs suffered $13.4 billion in net outflows this week, down W/W from $5.5 billion in net inflows. This week was their first week of outflows in eight weeks and their largest weekly outflows since December 2022.

This week's biggest equity ETF winner was BlackRock's iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV). The fund brought in $1 billion in net inflows.

Conventional (i.e. non-ETF) equity funds suffered $6.1 billion in net outflows this week. It was their 114th week of outflows in a row, down W/W from $6.4 billion in net outflows.

Taxable fixed income ETFs suffered $170 million in net outflows this week. It was their first week of outflows in four weeks, down W/W from $7.2 billion in net inflows.

This week's biggest taxable fixed income ETF winner, for a second week running, was BlackRock's iShares Core US Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG). The fund brought in $786 million in net inflows, down W/W from $1 billion.

Spot bitcoin ETPs (which the LSEG Lipper team categorizes as "alternative currency strategies ETFs," under the broad "taxable fixed income ETFs" label) brought in $18 million in net inflows this week. Spot bitcoin ETPs as a group have netted positive inflows every week (that's 15 consecutive weeks now) since they debuted earlier this year, though this week was their smallest inflows week ever, down W/W from $312 million.

Of the various spot bitcoin ETPs, only the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) suffered net outflows this week. ARKB suffered $56 million in net outflows this week, while GBTC suffered $478 million in net outflows (down W/W from $816 million).

Conventional taxable fixed income funds suffered $3 billion in net outflows this week, up W/W from $1.1 billion. This week was their third week of outflows in four weeks and their largest outflows week since November 2023.

Muni bond ETFs suffered $815 million in net outflows this week. It was their third week of outflows in five weeks, down W/W from $809 million in net inflows.

Conventional muni bond funds suffered $659 million in net outflows this week. It was their third week of outflows in four weeks, up W/W from $364 million. 

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