Skip to Content

4 min read

U.S. Fund Flows: February Sees a Massive Haul of Inflows

Long-term US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds collected $59 billion in February 2024, their highest monthly total in more than two years.

Monthly-Fund-Flows-Feb_Blog-Banner.png

Key Takeaways

  • Taxable-bond funds led the charge with more than $50 billion of inflows.

  • Active funds claimed $29 billion, pushing them into monthly inflows for the first time since October 2021.

  • Municipal-bond funds collected more than $2 billion in their fourth consecutive month of inflows.

  • Newly minted spot bitcoin ETFs remained popular, driving over $5 billion of net flows into the digital assets category.

US mutual funds and ETFs collected $58 billion in February, their best monthly total since December 2021. For the second consecutive month, bond funds collected the lion’s share of the money. Stock funds moved back into positive territory in February but finished with only modest inflows.

The charts below illustrate which direction the money is flowing for a variety of fund types. For a more complete analysis, download the full report from Morningstar’s Adam Sabban and Ryan Jackson.

This data was sourced from Morningstar Direct. Not a user? Get a free trial of Direct.

Now, let's dive in.

Source: Morningstar Direct Asset Flows. Data as of Feb. 29, 2024

Taxable-Bond Funds Stay Hot in February

Taxable-bond funds raked in more than $50 billion in February, good for a 1% organic growth rate. The $97 billion they’ve collected in 2024 marks their best two-month stretch since April-May 2021. Active taxable-bond strategies pulled in $29 billion in February, enough to push the broad active-fund universe into inflows for the first time in more than two years.

Source: Morningstar Direct Asset Flows. Data as of Feb. 29, 2024. OGR is organic growth rate.

Municipal-Bond Funds Settle In

The municipal-bond cohort gathered $2.4 billion in February. That pushed its 2024 haul to nearly $8 billion—a terrific start after consecutive calendar years of outflows. Short-term muni-bond funds haven’t rebounded like their taxable peers, but high-yield strategies picked up the slack, gathering $3.2 billion for the year to date.

Source: Morningstar Direct Asset Flows. Data as of Feb. 29, 2024. OGR is organic growth rate.

More on Fund Flows from Morningstar

For more comprehensive analysis and commentary on US Fund Flows, download this month’s full report. Topics include:

  • US Equity Funds Don’t Move the Needle
  • Japan and India Boost Foreign-Stock Flows
  • Don’t Mess With Tech
  • Sustainable Funds Can’t Break Out
  • Pimco Busts out of the Gates

Can’t get enough fund flows data? Check out Morningstar’s Ultimate Guide to Fund Flows.

This article is adapted from the Morningstar U.S. Fund Flows report for December 2023. Download the full report here.

You might also be interested in...