Junk mutual funds, ETFs see $590 million inflow for week ended March 27

By Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., March 21 – High-yield mutual funds and exchange-traded funds – considered a reliable barometer of overall liquidity trends in the junk market – saw inflows of $590 million for the week ended Wednesday, according to fund-flow statistics generated by AMG Data Services Inc.

The week marked the third consecutive inflow for the high-yield market with $1.8 billion entering the space for the week ended March 20 and $1.04 billion entering the space for the week ended March 13.

The inflows were preceded by an outflow of $1.91 billion for the week ended March 6, which was the first outflow in six weeks.

Funds saw inflows of $698 million for the week ended Feb. 27, $284 million for the week ended Feb. 20 and $728 million for the week ended Feb. 13.

Funds saw a record-setting inflow of $3.86 billion for the week ended Feb. 6, the largest inflow since 2016, and a modest inflow of $73 million for the week ended Jan. 30.

Funds saw an outflow of $264 million for the week ended Jan. 23.

The outflow was preceded by an inflow of $3.28 billion for the week ended Jan. 16, which, until the week ended Feb. 6, had been the largest inflow since December 2016, according to a market source.

Funds saw an inflow of $1.05 billion for the week ended Jan. 9, which ended a streak of seven consecutive outflows.

While funds saw record outflows in 2018, fund flows in 2019 have been net positive with a cumulative inflow of $10.6 billion in the 13 weeks thus far, according to a Prospect News analysis of the reports by the Arcata, Calif.-based unit of Thomson Reuters Corp.’s Lipper analytics division.

For the past 10 weeks, funds have seen eight inflows and two outflows.

There have been 10 inflows and three outflows in the 13 weeks of 2019, according to the Prospect News analysis.

IG corporates see inflows

Among other asset classes, investment-grade corporate funds saw inflows of $2.75 billion for the week ended Wednesday.

High-grade funds have seen a steady streak of inflows.

There was an inflow of $5.14 billion for the week ended March 20, $3.3 billion for the week ended March 13, $1.99 billion for the week ended March 6, $3.9 billion for the week ended Feb. 27, $1.95 billion for the week ended Feb. 20 and $1.89 billion for the week ended Feb. 13.

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