Mutual funds and ETF net assets moved in opposite directions in July amid weaker markets, the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA) said in a report Monday.
Mutual funds saw their assets slightly dip to $2.8 trillion at the end of the month, representing a decrease of $12.5 billion or 0.5% from the same time in June.
This was the first time their assets declined in three months, and it was due to “market losses [that] offset relatively strong inflows,” SIMA said.
It was a different story for ETFs.
ETF assets amounted to $896.6 billion at the end of July, up by $13.4 billion or 1.5% on a month-over-month basis, “as strong inflows compensated for market weakness,” the report noted.
Mutual fund sales
At $6.4 billion, mutual funds recorded the highest level of monthly net sales since February. By comparison, they took in $5 billion in June.
More than 70% — $4.7 billion — of July mutual fund net sales flowed into bond funds. This was up from $1.3 billion in net sales recorded for the fund category the previous month.
Balanced mutual fund net sales came in at $2 billion, up from $1.1 billion a month earlier.
Specialty mutual funds took in $1.1 billion, on par with June.
Equity and money-market mutual funds were in the red.
The equity fund category suffered $1.2 billion in net redemptions, down from $2.7 billion in net sales a month prior.
Meanwhile, money-market funds recorded $1.2 billion in net redemptions in July. This marked an improvement from a month earlier, when net redemptions amounted to $1.3 billion.
ETF sales
On the other hand, ETFs recorded their fourth-highest monthly net sales total on record, with $18.3 billion gathered. This was up from $17.5 billion in June.
Equity ETFs raked in $12.6 billion, a slight decrease from $13.1 billion the month before.
Balanced ETFs gathered $1.4 billion, barely changed from June.
Specialty ETFs recorded $1.2 billion in net sales, an increase from $684 million.
Money-market ETFs took in $490 million, up from $142 million in net redemptions a month prior.
The monthly report is based on direct survey data from fund providers and is complemented by estimated data.