August’s monthly highlights from the USA market - Strategic Insight

Net redemptions from long-term mutual funds and exchange-traded products totalled US$28.2 billion in August. Equity mutual funds and ETFs experienced net outflows of US$9.9 billion during the month, led by outflows of US$15.3 billion from US Equity funds. Index International Equity mutual funds attracted US$10.8 billion of net new investment on demand for funds tracking ex-US developed equity markets. Active US Equity mutual fund net redemptions totalled US$21 billion in August.

Bond funds experienced net outflows of US$18.3 billion in August on US$17 billion of net redemptions from taxable products. Outflow leading objectives during the month included Corporate Bond General (US-$4.7 billion) and Corporate Floating Rate (US-$3.4 billion). Government Short and Intermediate Maturity funds led net inflows to bond funds, attracting a combined US$5 billion of net new investment in August. Municipal Bond fund redemptions totalled US$1.3 billion during the month.

A selloff across global equity markets late in August sent one-month average fund returns for US and International Equity funds into negative territory at -5.6% and -6.8%, respectively. Taxable Bond funds also ended the month lower with a weighted average -0.8% decline in August.

Net subscriptions to Money Market funds totalled US$11.4 billion in August.

For more information or to view the full report, contact Rael Solomon on (03) 9886 4400 or rsolomon@planforlife.com.au.