Investment fund assets reached new records in August for both the mutual fund and ETF categories, according to a report from the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA).
On Friday, the industry trade group reported that mutual fund assets totalled $2.8 trillion at the end of August, representing a $26.4-billion or 1% increase from July.
Meanwhile, ETF assets came in at $924.2 billion at the end of August, representing a $27.6-billion or 3.1% monthly increase.
“Mutual fund and ETF assets reached new all-time highs in August. Mutual fund assets rebounded from July’s decline, while ETF assets increased for the fifth consecutive month,” the report said.
Fund sales
Mutual funds recorded net sales of $4.7 billion in August, down from $6.4 billion a month prior. It was the 16th consecutive month of positive net sales for the fund category.
Bond funds accounted for $1.9 billion of the total mutual fund sales. By comparison, they took in $4.7 billion in July.
Specialty mutual funds recorded $1.2 billion in net sales in August, up slightly from $1.1 billion the previous month.
Balanced mutual fund net sales came in at $1.1 billion, down from $2 billion.
Equity mutual funds were in positive net sales territory, with $573 million gathered last month, compared to net redemptions of $1.2 billion in July.
Money-market mutual funds registered net redemptions of $9 million in August, down from the $188 million in net outflows recorded a month earlier.
“Compared to the first eight months of 2025, long-term mutual fund net sales more than doubled in the same period this year,” the report said.
On the other hand, ETF net sales amounted to $15.5 billion in the month, “more than doubling the August 2025 total,” SIMA noted. However, this was a decline from the previous month, when ETF net sales totalled $18.3 billion.
Equity ETFs recorded net sales of $10.1 billion, down from $12.7 billion in July.
Bond ETFs took in $3.9 billion in August, up from $2.6 billion the previous month.
Balanced ETFs saw net sales of $1 billion, slightly down from $1.4 billion a month earlier.
Specialty ETF net sales amounted to $493 million, down from $1.1 billion in July.
Money-market ETFs were in negative sales territory, hitting $60 million in net redemptions in August, down from $490 million in positive net sales the previous month.