Mutual fund sales retreat in August, ETFs hold up
Long-term mutual fund net sales were a bit stronger at $2.8 billion, led by $2.5 billion in bond fund net sales — although this figure was down from $3.3 billion in July.
Equity fund sales also dropped, to $1.1 billion last month from $2.1 billion in July. Specialty fund sales eased a bit too, declining to $547 million in August from $800 million in July.
At the same time, balanced funds edged deeper into net redemptions in August, with the monthly total climbing to $1.4 billion, up from just over $1 billion in July.
And, money-market funds recorded $420 million in monthly net redemptions. IFIC noted that this marked the largest monthly outflow total since November 2021, “largely the result of outflows from high-interest saving account funds.”
Despite the softer net sales activity, mutual fund assets under management climbed by $7.7 billion in August to $2.15 trillion, up 0.4% in the month.
ETFs enjoyed stronger gains, with assets rising 1.3% in the month to $464.0 billion, an increase of $5.9 billion.
Net sales contributed the bulk of the asset gains, with August sales reaching $4.3 billion.
This was down from July’s monthly net sales of just under $5.0 billion. However, as with mutual funds, long-term sales were stronger, coming in at $4.4 billion compared with $4.7 billion in July.
Money-market ETFs recorded $94 million in monthly net redemptions, which was a reversal from $310 million in positive net sales for the category in July.
Equity ETFs continued leading the way with $1.75 billion in monthly net sales, down a bit from $2.4 billion in July.
Bond fund sales were also a bit weaker, coming in at $1.2 billion in August, down from $1.46 billion in July.
Specialty fund sales surged to $991 million in August, up from $254 million in July — outpacing balanced ETF sales, which came in at $464 million last month, down from $558 million in July.
IFIC noted that ETF inflows are up this year, coming in at $41.6 billion for the first eight months of the year, almost double the $22.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.