For the eleventh consecutive week, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including those of conventional funds and ETFs), injecting $28.7 billion for Lipper's fund-flows week ended May 13, 2020. Fund investors were net purchasers of money market funds (+$20.3 billion), taxable fixed income funds (+$10.4 billion), and municipal bond funds (+$582 million), while being net redeemers of equity funds (-$2.5 billion) this week.
Market Wrap-Up
For the fund-flows week ended May 13, 2020, markets were mixed as the Q1 earnings season neared its end, investors watched state governors cautiously reopen their economies, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave a dour near-term outlook for the economy.
The Nasdaq Price Only Index (+0.10%) witnessed the only plus-side return for the fund-flows week of the broadly followed U.S. indices, followed by the S&P 500 Price Only Index (-1.00%). The Russell 2000 Price Only Index suffered the largest decline of the flows week, declining 2.36%. Overseas, the Nikkei 225 Price Only Index (+2.27%) chalked up the strongest plus-side returns of the often-followed broad-based global indices, while the FTSE 100 Price Only Index (-0.25%) suffered the largest losses for the week.
On Thursday, May 7, despite a report showing that in the week prior 3.2 million more Americans were added to the role of first-time jobless claims, a continued rally in technology stocks pushed the Nasdaq back into positive territory year to date. Also, investors appeared to believe the pace of job losses were on the mend as some states moved to a soft reopening of their economies. On another positive note, a recently released report showed that Chinese exports unexpectedly grew 3.5% from the previous year compared to analyst expectations of a 15.7% decline.
Shrugging off a disappointing April nonfarm payrolls report released on Friday, May 8, the DJIA closed the day up
