March Flows Spell Positive Quarter for Mutual Funds

Monthly mutual fund flow data published by Strategic Insight (SI), an Asset International company, shows inflows of $46.7 billion to long-term mutual funds during March lifted “quarterly long-term non-VA ’40 Act fund flows” to $54.3 billion for the first quarter of 2016.

Passive funds continued to drive even stronger inflows, SI finds, attracting $47.4 billion during the month and totaling $83.4 billion on the quarter.

U.S. equity funds netted $7.4 billion during March, ending the month in positive net flow territory for the second time in the trailing 12 months. Outflows from active U.S. equity persisted, SI finds, totaling $13.6 billion in March. International equity funds netted $2.6 billion on demand for index exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds, while passive emerging market stock funds attracted $5.8 billion during the month.

The SI data shows that among broad asset classes, taxable bond funds led monthly net inflows, collecting $31.1 billion on strong demand for both active and passive corporate bond exposure. Municipal bond funds continued to see steady positive net investment, attracting $5.6 billion during the month and lifting quarterly net inflows to $16 billion. As of March, net new investment to bond funds year-to-date totals $55.7 billion.

Monthly net redemptions from money-market funds totaled $13.4 billion.

More information on obtaining Strategic Insight research is at www.sionline.com.