DARIEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fixed income strategies amassed $215 billion of net asset flows in 2017, at the expense of equity strategies according to Investment Metrics’ Institutional Insight: Top Asset Gainers Q4 2017 Report. Although equity returns trounced fixed-income returns in 2017, investors continued to de-risk by pulling $450 billion from equity markets.
Key Report Highlights:
- U.S. fixed income strategies accounted for 88% of $215 billion of inflows in 2017
- U.S. corporates & short duration bonds combined for $67 billion of inflows in 2017
- U.S. broad market core & core plus combined for $50 billion of inflows in 2017
- U.S. & global high-yield bonds combined for nearly $12 billion of outflows in Q4
- U.S. equity accounted for 78% of the $450 billion in equity outflows in 2017
- Both active & passive U.S. equity strategies experienced outflows
Spotlight on Asset Gainers – Small Cap Equity
Asset managers in the Investment Metrics U.S. Small Cap Equity (SA+CF) universe reported $4.3 billion in assets gained during the 4th quarter of 2017. Active managers accounted for a lion’s share with 86% of the flows, or roughly $3.75 billion. Growth managers outperformed value over the quarter, yet value managers still accounted for over 40% of assets gained. Over the calendar year, the flows were balanced by style with core, growth, and value managers each reporting over $4 billion in assets gained.
The average concentration for the strategies on the top asset gainers list was 166 holdings. Three of the strategies were high-conviction fundamental strategies with less than 40 names, while three others were broadly diversified strategies with over 350 stocks. There were three quantitative strategies on the list, including the largest gainer, but active fundamental strategies accounted for 58% of the assets gained for the quarter.
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About Investment Metrics
Investment Metrics is the leading provider of investment performance analytics and reporting solutions for institutional investment consultants, asset managers, and private wealth advisors. Our platform enables the world’s leading investment professionals to analyze and report on over $7 trillion of assets under advisement for over 2,500 institutional plans insightfully, accurately, and efficiently. Our solutions include PARis (performance analytics and reporting), InvestWorks (manager research and due-diligence), EQuest (manager data portal), RaaS (outsourced investment reporting services), and InterSec Research (market intelligence).
