Mutual fund and ETF sales and assets climbed in November, though the asset growth was tempered compared to the previous six months, a report from the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA) shows.
Released Thursday, the report said mutual fund net sales came in at $5.4 billion, up from $4.1 billion the previous month. It was their second-largest monthly net sales of the year.
Bond mutual funds generated $2.9 billion in positive net sales during the month, up from $2.6 billion a month prior. Meanwhile, specialty mutual funds recorded $1.1 billion in net sales, on par with the previous month.
Balanced mutual funds generated $357 million in net sales, down from $1.8 billion the previous month, while money-market funds gathered $1.8 billion in net sales, marking a rebound from the $130 million they posted in net redemptions in October.
These gains were partly offset by equity mutual funds, which recorded $746 million in net redemptions, up from $1.3 billion in net redemptions a month prior.
Alongside the positive net sales, mutual fund assets were up 0.9% in November — adding $23 billion in assets under management (AUM) to reach $2.5 trillion.
Over the previous 12 months, mutual fund AUM was up by 12.1%.
ETFs continued their upward trajectory in November too.
With $12.9 billion in net sales gathered in the month, ETFs recorded their second-largest monthly net sales ever, the report said, as every ETF category generated positive net sales.
Equity ETFs led the gains, recording $6.8 billion in net sales, up from $5.3 billion in October. Bond ETFs posted $3.2 billion in net sales, up from $2.1 billion.
Balanced funds generated $1.2 billion in net sales, down slightly from $1.3 billion on a month-over-month basis. Specialty funds also decreased to $988 million from $1.4 billion during the same period.
Total money-market ETFs rebounded, recording $705 million in net sales, up from $106 million in redemptions in October.
By the end of November, total ETF AUM hit the $700-billion mark, representing a 2.5% or $17.3-billion gain from the previous month, the report said.
On an annual basis, ETF assets were up by 35.9%.
“Mutual fund and ETF assets rose for the seventh consecutive month,” the report said. “However, the growth in assets was lower than in any of the previous six months as global equity markets had modest gains in November.”