Cash flow to U.S. high-yield funds for the week ended Aug. 19 turned positive for the first time in four weeks, at $111 million, according to Lipper. While it’s a positive reading, it barely dents the outflow total of $4.1 billion for the preceding three weeks.
The net inflow is entirely linked to the exchanged-traded fund segment, as mutual fund investors pulled $152 million this past week and ETF inflows came in at $264 million. It’s the first measure reflecting this dynamic dating back five weeks.
Whatever that might suggest about market-timing and fast money, it’s a net inflow, but since it’s so small, the trailing-four-week average is essentially unchanged at negative $1.006 billion versus negative $1.014 billion last week.
The full-year reading stays in the red, at negative $1.5 billion, with a whopping 79% of that ETF-related. Last year, after 33 weeks, there was a larger net outflow of $3 billion, with 55% tied to ETF redemptions. Recall that last year saw the all-time record $7.1 billion outflow in the week ended Aug. 6, 2014.
The change due to market conditions this past week was mildly negative, at $269 million. That’s essentially nil against total assets, which were $191.8 billion at the end of the observation period. ETFs account for $35 billion of total assets, or roughly 18% of the sum. – Matt Fuller