Net industry inflows fell by 69 percent last month as markets began to tumble amid the spreading coronavirus pandemic.

Mortimer J. "Tim" Buckley Vanguard President, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on February 2020 mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money market funds and funds of funds. More specifically, this article focuses on the 28 firms (down from 29 in January) with more than $100 billion each in fund AUM.

Vanguard kept the lead, despite a 55-percent drop in flows. The low-cost leviathan brought in an estimated $19.385 billion in net February inflows, down from $42.801 billion in January. Other big February winners included: BlackRock, $12.821 billion (down from $17.467 billion); Fidelity, $6.841 billion (up from $6.031 billion); J.P. Morgan, $5.645 billion ((up from $3.509 billion); and Pimco, $3.745 billion (up from $2.416 billion).

Proportionately, PGIM took the large fund firm lead last month, with estimated net February inflows equivalent to 1.9 percent of its AUM, up from 1.6 percent in January. Other big February inflows winners included: J.P. Morgan, 1.5 percent (up from 0.9 percent); Lord Abbett, 1.4 percent (down from 1.8 percent); Goldman Sachs, 1.3 percent (down from 2.3 percent); and Legg Mason, one percent (down from 1.7 percent).

On the flip side, February was a rough month for SSGA, which suffered an estimated $27.26 billion in net outflows, more than any other fund firm and up from $131 million in January. Other big February outflows sufferers included: Capital Group's American Funds, $2.484 billion (down from $26 million in net inflows); Invesco, $2.05 billion (down from $2.758 billion); T. Rowe Price, $1.812 billion (up from $1.5189 billion).

SSGA also led the outflows pack proportionately, suffering estimated February net outflows equivalent to 4.4 percent of its AUM, up from negligible net outflows in January. Other big February outflows sufferers included: Jackson, 0.5 percent (up form 0.4 percent); Franklin Templeton, 0.5 percent (up from 0.4 percent); American Century, 0.5 percent (down from 1.4 percent); and Invesco, 0.4 percent (down from 0.5 percent).

As a group, the 28 fund firms with more than $100 billion each in fund AUM brought in an estimated $27.108 billion in net February inflows, equivalent to 0.17 percent of their combined AUM (and accounting for 106.48 percent of net industry inflows). That's down 65 percent from $77.276 billion in January (equivalent to 0.44 percent of AUM).

Across the entire industry, the 769 fund firms (two more than in January) tracked by the M* team brought in a combined $25.459 billion in net February inflows, equivalent to 0.13 percent of industry AUM and down from $83.274 billion in January. Passive funds brought in an estimated $13.784 billion in net February inflows (down 79 percent from $65.959 billion in January), while active funds brought in $11.675 billion in net February inflows (down 33 percent from $17.315 billion in January). 

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