As the whole mutual fund industry swung to outflows last month, less than one-third of the biggest fund firms had positive net flows.

The information within this article draws from Morningstar Direct data on October 2018 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows (excluding money market funds and funds of funds), and focuses specifically on the 27 firms with more than $100 billion in mutual fund and ETF AUM each. Eight had net inflows last month, while 19 suffered net outflows.

Vanguard stayed in the lead, despite a 45-percent drop in net inflows to an estimated $9.025 billion in October (down from $16.476 billion in September). Other big October winners included: Fidelity, $6.929 billion in net inflows (up from $6.56 billion); Charles Schwab, $1.831 billion (up from $1.24 billion); BlackRock, $1.064 billion (down from $8.961 billion); and Lord Abbett, $977 million (down from $1.153 billion).

Proportionately among the biggest fund firms, Schwab took the lead last month with estimated net inflows equivalent to 0.92 percent of its AUM, up from 0.59 percent in September. Other big winners in October included: Hartford, 0.75 percent (up from 0.04 percent in net outflows); Lord Abbett, 0.74 percent (down from 0.86 percent); Fidelity, 0.46 percent (up from 0.41 percent); and DFA, 0.21 percent (negligible change).

On the flip side, SSgA fell to the back of the big fund firm pack, suffering an estimated $7.485 billion in net outflows last month, after coming in second in September with $10.315 billion in net inflows. Other big October sufferers included: Invesco, $4.339 billion (up from $962 million); Pimco, $2.626 billion (up from $545 million); Franklin Templeton, $2.626 billion (down from $2.731 billion); and T. Rowe Price, $2.012 billion (up from $1.944 billion).

Proportionately, among the biggest fund firms, Invesco let the outflows pack last month with estimated net outflows equivalent to 1.3 percent of its AUM, up from 0.27 percent in September. Other big October sufferers included: SSgA, 1.19 percent (down from 1.53 percent in net inflows); American Century, 1.16 percent (up from 0.39 percent); Pimco, 0.74 percent (up from 0.15 percent); and Franklin, 0.73 percent (down from 0.75 percent).

As a group, fund families with more than $100 billion in AUM each suffered a combined $5.885 billion in estimated net outflows last month, equivalent to about 0.04 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $37.797 billion in estimated net inflows in September.

Across the whole industry, long-term open-end mutual funds and ETFs suffered a combined $29.184 billion in estimated net outflows in October, equivalent to 0.16 percent of industry AUM. That's down from $28.269 billion in net inflows in September. 

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