Fund flows are responding in surprising ways to the highest recorded volatility in the history of financial markets and the associated stock market crash. In a month of superlatives, overall, UK-based funds have seen the largest outflows on record for any month by a long shot, the most week-to-week volatility, and the biggest divergence between the appetite for different asset types on Calastone’s record. The FFI: All Assets dropped to a record low of 47.2 (a reading of 50 means buys equal sells).
Key highlights from this month's FFI:
- March saw record fund outflows, record flow volatility week-to-week and record divergence between flows from one asset type to another
- Record fixed income outflows on concerns over credit quality in sovereign and corporate debt markets
- Equity outflows were astonishingly small for a month of such market turmoil
- Passive funds saw record inflows, while active funds saw near record outflows
- UK equity funds were big winners enjoying second-largest inflows in four years
- European equity funds were biggest losers