JPM: May sees healthy net sales across equity, fixed income, and money funds

Mutual funds staged a recovery in May, with healthy net sales across equity, fixed income, and money market funds, according to a report from JPMorgan.

Overall, May saw inflows of $133 billion, reversing the outflows seen in April. Money market funds led the charge with net sales of $64 billion during the month, a significant turnaround from the $16 billion outflow in April.

“Keep in mind, April is typically the seasonally weakest month of the year for money market net sales with tax bills due,” JPMorgan analysts said in the note. “Both prime and gov’t money market funds delivered positive net sales in May.”

Equity funds also rebounded in May, with net inflows of $33 billion, up from the $40 billion outflow in April. Passive equity strategies, which had experienced rare outflows in April, returned to positive territory with $54 billion in inflows. However, active equity strategies continued to struggle, recording outflows of $21 billion in May, albeit less severe than the $38 billion outflow in April.

Fixed-income funds maintained steady inflows, with net sales of $36 billion in May, up from $24 billion in April.

“That said, overall fixed-income sales have generally slowed somewhat since the start of 2024. Income strategies continue to lead industry sales within fixed-income funds,” analysts continued.

Interestingly, passive fixed-income sales outpaced active fixed-income sales for the first time this year, with $25 billion in inflows compared to $12 billion for active strategies.

BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) led the industry with $21 billion in inflows for May, driven by both equity and fixed-income funds. In contrast, T. Rowe Price and Franklin Templeton continued to face overall flow pressures, despite improvements in their outflow figures compared to previous months.