Net Fund Outflows in February

Stock funds saw a net outflow of $3.07 billion last month, a dramatic turnaround from January’s $25.06 billion net inflows, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI). 

This was largely the result of a $4.38 billion outflow from international equity funds, and a $1.5 billion outflow from aggressive growth funds, which overcame inflows in other equity categories.

Overall, the nation’s mutual fund assets slipped 4.7% during the month to $6.897 trillion.  The total value of equity funds decreased by 9.9%, falling to $3.689 trillion, a casualty of redemptions and market value losses.  Hybrid funds, which include both equity and fixed income holdings, fell 2.9% to $346.5 billion. 

Money market mutual funds enjoyed a net cash inflow of $54.88 billion in February, as investors sought safe havens from the declining stock market. Funds offered primarily to institutions reported cash flow of $33.26 billion in February.

The value of bond funds gained 1.4%, with the combination of taxable and nontaxable investments totaling $841.6 billion at month end.

The ICI data includes 8,197 mutual funds, up from 7,869 a year ago.