Equity fund outflows, excluding ETFs, surge to $7.8 billion: JPM

Investing.com — Equity funds, excluding exchange-traded funds (ETFs), faced significant outflows amounting to $7.8 billion in the week that ended Nov. 27, according to JPMorgan, citing EPFR data. This marks a further deterioration from the $7.2 billion outflows in the week prior.

In contrast, fixed-income funds received a modest $0.8 billion in inflows, and money market funds also witnessed positive flows.

Domestic Equity funds, again excluding ETFs, were hit with redemptions totaling $6.2 billion, a downturn from the $5.1 billion redemptions seen the week before.

International and Global Equity funds fared slightly better, with outflows decreasing to $1.5 billion from $2.1 billion the previous week. However, when including ETFs in the mix, all Equity Funds recorded substantial inflows of $27.4 billion, a significant improvement from the $4.6 billion inflows from the week before.

Taxable Bond funds, excluding ETFs, reported sales of $0.6 billion, a drop from the $2.7 billion recorded last week. Municipal Bond funds, on the other hand, saw an uptick with $0.2 billion in inflows, compared to a near-zero flow the week prior. Money Market funds also improved, with inflows of $6.0 billion, recovering from the $12.3 billion outflows witnessed last week.

Sector-wise, most areas saw inflows, with Technology leading at $3.4 billion, followed by Financials which attracted $1.8 billion. Healthcare, however, experienced outflows of $0.7 billion, and the Energy sector remained roughly flat with net zero flows.

In terms of performance, asset manager fund returns were positive, registering a 1.7% increase, which slightly outpaced the equity market’s return as measured by the S&P 500 at 1.4%.

For the fourth quarter to date, the tracked fund companies showed returns of 2.8%, compared to the market returns of 4.3%.

The bank said JPMorgan Funds topped the quarter-to-date performance with a 4.8% return, while Lazard (NYSE:LAZ) lagged, posting a -3.0% return.