Fund Flow Data for Final Week in January

Flows into equity funds were stunning in the first three weeks of January, and the final week was no exception.

This past week, total equity inflows were $18.8 billion, the third-largest on record, according to BofA Merrill Lynch.

Flows into bond funds held up as well, but a clear divergence between the two asset classes has emerged in January:

Below is a breakdown of this week's flow data, courtesy of BofA strategist Michael Hartnett:

Total flows into equity funds were 0.4 percent of assets under management at $18.8 billion, with $12.2 billion added to equity ETFs (+0.9 percent) and $6.6 billion added to long-only equity funds (+0.2 percent)
Total flows into U.S. equities were $11 billion (+0.4 percent), the largest since 2011, but about half of those flows were into the S&P 500 index as opposed to individual equities
Total flows into bond funds were $3.0 billion (+0.1 percent)
Total flows out of money market funds were $12 billion
Total flows into emerging market equity funds were $3.7 billion (+0.5 percent), marking 21 straight weeks of inflows – the longest streak since the fourth quarter of 2010
Total flows into European equities were $1.2 billion (+0.2 percent) and flows into Japanese equities were $0.4 billion (+0.5 percent)
Total flows into emerging market bonds were $1.6 billion (+0.7 percent), marking 34 straight weeks of inflows
Total flows into floating-rate notes were $1.1 billion (+1.9 percent), the largest since February 2011
Total flows into high-yield bonds were $0.6 billion (+0.2 percent), but flows into investment-grade bonds were only $27 million

Meanwhile, oil funds lost 3.2 percent of assets under management, government bond funds shrank 0.3 percent, and gold, silver, and TIPS funds contracted 0.1 percent. Quite a statement to begin the year.

We Just Witnessed Another Historic Week For People Investing In Mutual Funds