The second quarter was a tale of two parts with June seeing significant changes in flows compared with April and May.
Lipper said all asset classes except money market funds delivered positive net flows in the quarter, but global net flows for bond funds headed into negative territory in June, due to rising yield volatility.
At $22bn, bond funds suffered the largest monthly net outflows in June since the ‘taper tantrum’ exactly two years earlier. The global net outflows follow a trend set by European fund investors, who started to aggressively cut their government and corporate bond holdings in may.
Whilst all asset types delivered positive average returns in the quarter, all except money market funds and alternatives turned negative in June.
Equity funds, with an average negative return of 2.2%, were the worst performers.
Despite this, Lipper said ‘investors still seemed keen to hold on to equity funds’ with them attracting the most net new money in June.
Equity global ex US, Japan and Europe lead equity funds net inflows for the quarter, whilst equity US income and equity US funds topped the outflows league.
Lipper also noted that it appears ‘different stimulators’ are driving equity investments on either side of the Atlantic. On one hand Europe relies on ongoing liquidity injections, whilst on the other US investors seem to take ‘a more cautious approach.’
The report takes in figures from all collective investment vehicles in the Lipper database, except pension funds.
