While some investors are ditching U.S. equities in reaction to market volatility and uncertainty around trade, others seem to be abandoning fund investing in general.
According to a report released on Wednesday by the Investment Company Institute, nearly $10 billion was pulled from ETFs and mutual funds during the week ending July 3.
The total estimated outflows from long-term mutual funds and ETFs were $9.61 billion for the six-day period ending July 3, according to the ICI. An estimated $8.6 billion flowed out of mutual funds, while another $987 million flowed out of ETFs.
During the previous week, ending June 27, an estimated $16.8 billion flowed out of long-only ETFs and mutual funds, while during the week ending June 20, just $1.7 billion of outflows occurred.
Equity funds had estimated outflows of $10.61 billion for the week ending July 3, down from $17.9 billion the previous week. Mutual funds were responsible for $8.8 billion of the outflows during the week ending July 3, while equity ETFs suffered $1.8 billion in outflows.
According to recent Lipper data regarding mutual fund flows in June, more than $36 billion in assets were withdrawn from U.S. stock mutual funds during the month, the highest total withdrawals since October 2008. The rise in withdrawals could be driven by increasing uncertainty around global trade, according to Lipper.
In the ICI’s analysis, Investor money shifted away from the U.S. to global equities. During the week ending July 3, domestic equity funds had outflows of $11.4 billion, compared to $762 billion in inflows for world equity funds.
The flows away from the U.S. and into world funds may indicate bargain hunting. The shift to world equity funds has occurred just as interest rates and a strong dollar have created headwinds for international stocks. Russ Kinnel, in a July 5 interview on Morningstar.com, said that while some international markets really are weak, other equity markets have declined due to a relatively stronger dollar.
“Rising U.S. interest rates once again are a big deal for these overseas equities,” said Kinnel. “One reason is, emerging markets are very sensitive to U.S. interest rates and dollar strength. That's hurting them. Also, you see, obviously, the trade wars affecting a lot of the markets … and then, again, the dollar strength also means that your foreign equity holdings probably don't look so good because most foreign equity funds do not hedge their exposure. A rising dollar means you are doing worse than the actual markets themselves.”
Bond funds enjoyed $4.6 billion in estimated inflows during the week ending July 3, according to ICI, compared to $3 billion during the previous week. Mutual funds were responsible for $2.8 billion of the inflows during the week ending July 3, while ETFs attracted $1.8 billion.