|
It
was money funds' third consecutive week of cash inflows, with a
four-week moving average of $18.8 billion, according to data by
Refinitiv's Lipper.
The move in safe, conservative money-market funds is notable as
the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose
above 3,000 and over 27,000 for the first time, respectively,
this week.
Earlier this year, BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink pointed
out that mom-and-pop investors were under-invested in equity
markets and that the group could put money to work in U.S.
stocks if markets continue to rise. "We have a risk of a
melt-up, not a meltdown here," Fink said at the time.
From an economic standpoint, the net inflows into money market
funds over the last three weeks could be seen as "investors
putting money on the sidelines," said Pat Keon, senior research
analyst at Lipper.
"Money is taken out of play like this, particularly in stocks,
during times of uncertainty," he said. "Federal Reserve chairman
Jerome Powell has pointed to the current uncertainty multiple
times in the recent past with respect to the U.S.-China trade
war, global growth concerns and the still tepid inflation data."
For the week ended Wednesday, U.S.-based equity funds - which
include both mutual funds and exchange-traded funds - attracted
just $1 billion in the week, following three weeks of cash
withdrawals.
Keon said this week's inflows stem from "the strength of equity
ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) with plus-$4.3 billion of inflows,
while equity mutual funds saw negative $3.3 billion leave their
coffers - the group’s 21st consecutive week of net outflows."
The flows into equity ETFs were concentrated in one product, the
SPDR S&P 500 ETF, which took in over $3.7 billion, Keon said.
"Domestic equity mutual funds were responsible for the lion’s
share of the net outflows at negative $2.6 billion," he said.
"This is the continuation of a long-term trend as the group has
had 22 straight weeks of net outflows for a total of -$87.1
billion."
U.S.-based leveraged loan funds posted cash withdrawals of $332
million, extending their weekly outflow streak since November
2018.
"Loan funds have floating rates. So, a rising interest-rate
environment is good for them, therefore the Fed’s actions have
hurt this classification while helping the fixed-rate investment
grade classifications," Keon said.
(Reporting by Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Susan Thomas and Bill
Berkrot)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
