Morningstar on Monday posted its European asset flows data for February 2024, revealing significant investor interest in equity and fixed-income funds amidst anticipation of interest-rate cuts.
Europe-domiciled long-term funds reported net inflows of 19.4 billion euro during the month, with equity funds experiencing their second consecutive month of positive inflows, amounting to 5.1 billion euro. This growth was predominantly seen in passive equity funds, which attracted 19.1 billion euro, whereas active equity funds continued to see outflows.
Fixed-income strategies also had a strong month, with 30.9 billion euro in net inflows, following a robust January that marked the highest inflows since July 2021. Bonds remained the only category to see positive inflows across both active and passive strategies.
Outflows for alternative funds, Article 9
In contrast, allocation and alternative funds saw net outflows of 9.9 billion euro and 2.0 billion euro, respectively. Similarly, Article 8 funds posted net inflows of 5.4 billion euro, marking the second positive month after seven months of outflows, whereas Article 9 products experienced 2.1 billion euro in outflows.
The global large-cap blend equity category was the top seller for the month, followed by fixed-term bond funds. Meanwhile, the highest net outflows were observed in other allocation and sector-equity ecology thematic funds, followed by flexible allocation global.
UBS led the asset-gathering in February, benefiting from fund transfers from Credit Suisse, which saw the largest outflows for the month. The Pimco GIS Income Fund was highlighted for receiving 1.96 billion euro in inflows, while the iShares Core € Corp Bond ETF saw the highest outflows at 2.1 billion euro.
Money market funds experienced a decline, with 9.4 billion euro in net outflows, marking the first negative month since June 2023. Overall, assets in long-term funds domiciled in Europe rose to 13.088 trillion euro by the end of February, up from 12.899 trillion euro at the end of January.
Fund providers: Largest inflows, active and passive
