2022 is the worst flows year on record for one mutual fund category, at least so far, according to the latest data from the Lipper team at Refinitiv.

Tom Roseen Refinitiv Lipper Head of Research Services

In the U.S. Weekly FundFlows Insight report for the week ending August 31, 2022 (i.e. Wednesday), Tom Roseen, head of research services at Refinitiv Lipper, reveals that $30.2 billion net flowed out of mutual funds and ETFs in the U.S. this week. That's the industry's first week of outflows in three weeks and it's largest weekly outflows since June 15, down from $3.8 billion in net inflows last week. Long-term (i.e. non-money market) funds and ETFs suffered $23.3 billion in net outflows this week, up from $9.3 billion.

Equity funds led the way with $10.6 billion in net outflows this week, up from $1.2 billion last week. Money market funds suffered $6.9 billion in net outflows this week (down from $13.1 billion in net inflows), taxable bond funds suffered $9.2 billion in net outflows (up from $6.9 billion), and tax-exempt bond funds suffered $3.4 billion in net outflows (up from $1.1 billion).

Conventional (i.e. non-ETF) municipal bond funds suffered $3.1 billion in net outflows this week. It was their second week of outflows in a row, up from $708 million last week. And Roseen notes that conventional muni bond funds have suffered $96.1 billion in net outflows year-to-date, making the first eight months of 2022 the worst such period for the category's net flows in at least 30 years (as the Lipper team started calculating estimated weekly net flows back in 1992).

Conventional taxable fixed income funds suffered $9.9 billion in net outflows this week. That's their second week of outflows in three weeks, up from $2.3 million in net outflows last week.

Taxable fixed income ETFs brought in $688 million in net inflows this week, their ninth week of inflows in ten weeks. This week's biggest taxable fixed income ETF winner was SSGA's SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL), with $1.1 billion in net inflows.

Muni bond ETFs suffered $311 million in net outflows this week, their fourth week of outflows in a row. This week's biggest muni bond ETF winner was the DFA National Muni Bond ETF (DFNM), with $57 million in net inflows.

On the equity side, conventional funds suffered an estimated $4.7 billion in net outflows this week. It was their 30th week of outflows in a row, up from $4.4 billion last week.

Conventional domestic equity funds suffered $3.6 billion in net outflows this week, also their 30th week of outflows in a row. And conventional nondomestic equity funds suffered $1.1 billion in net outflows this week, their 21st week of outflows in a row.

Equity ETFs suffered $6 billion in net outflows this week. It was their first week of outflows in four weeks (and their largest weekly outflows since June 15), down from $3.2 billion in net inflows last week. This week's biggest equity ETF winner was SSGA's Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF), with $978 million in net inflows.

Domestic equity ETFs suffered $5.9 billion in net outflows this week, their first week of outflows in four weeks. And nondomestic equity ETFs suffered $34 million in outflows this week, their fourth week of outflows in a row. 

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