Junk mutual funds, ETFs see $4 million inflow for week ended May 22

By Abigail W. Adams

Portland, Me., May 23 – High-yield mutual funds and exchange-traded funds – considered a reliable barometer of overall liquidity trends in the junk market – saw an inflow of $4 million for the week ended Wednesday, according to fund-flow statistics generated by AMG Data Services Inc.

The modest inflow follows the largest outflow of 2019 with $2.57 billion leaving the space for the week ended May 15.

While there have only been five outflows recorded in 2019, three of them have occurred in recent weeks.

The record outflow was preceded by $212 million leaving the space in the week ended May 8.

Funds saw a modest inflow of $21 million for the week ended May 1.

The modest inflow was preceded by an outflow of $521 million for the week ended April 24 – the first outflow in seven weeks.

Prior to the end of April, funds had seen a steady streak of substantial inflows.

Inflows were $1.1 billion for the week ended April 17, $655 million for the week ended April 10, $2 billion for the week ended April 3, $590 million for the week ended March 27, $1.8 billion for the week ended March 20 and $1.04 billion for the week ended March 13.

Prior to the week ended April 24, the last outflow was for the week ended March 6 when $1.91 billion left the space.

The March 6 outflow broke a streak of six consecutive inflows, which included the record-setting inflow of $3.86 billion for the week ended Feb. 6.

The inflow for the week ended Feb. 6 was the largest the space had seen since December 2016.

Fund flows in 2019 are net positive with a cumulative inflow of $11.71 billion in the 20 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 seven inflows and three outflows.

There have been 15 inflows and five outflows in the 20 weeks of 2019, according to the Prospect News analysis.

IG corporates see inflows

Among other asset classes, investment-grade corporate funds saw an outflow of $756 million for the week ended Wednesday. The outflow was the first after a steady streak of inflows.

High-grade funds saw an inflow of $2.18 billion for the week ended May 15, a substantial inflow of $3.33 billion for the week ended May 8, a modest inflow of $375 million for the week ended May 1 and a massive inflow of $5.86 billion for the week ended April 24.

There was an inflow of $2.31 billion for the week ended April 17, $2.9 billion for the week ended April 3, $2.75 billion for the week ended March 27 and $5.14 billion for the week ended March 20.

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