This marked a “a notable improvement compared to the same period last year when sales were negative,” with $780 million in net redemptions recorded in January 2024, IFIC noted.
Bond funds led the way, generating $3.3 billion in positive sales this January, up from $1.9 billion the previous month. This was the top-selling asset class among mutual funds for the past nine months, the report noted.
Specialty funds recorded $1.4 billion in net sales, up from $503 million a month prior. And money-market fund net sales came in at $852 million, up from $721 million in December.
These gains were partially offset by a decline in equity and balanced mutual fund net sales.
Equity mutual funds entered negative territory in January, with net redemptions amounting to $2.1 billion. This was a marked drop from the $107 million in net sales recorded for the asset class a month prior.
Meanwhile, balanced mutual funds recorded net redemptions of $388 million in January, a slight improvement from $573 million in net redemptions the previous month.
Mutual fund assets rose by 3.1% on a month-over-month basis, adding $68.9 billion in assets under management (AUM) to reach $2.3 billion by the end of January.
Over the previous 12 months, mutual fund AUM increased by 18.3%.
For ETFs, January was the third most successful month in terms of net sales on record, trailing only December and June 2024, IFIC said.
ETF net sales totalled $9 billion in the month, down from $10.7 billion in December.
All ETF asset classes were in positive territory in January. Equity ETFs, for one, generated $4.8 billion in net sales, a decline from $7.9 billion a month earlier.
Bond ETFs recorded net sales of $1.7 billion, a drop from $2.1 billion month over month.
Balanced ETF net sales totalled $745 million, up from $712 million.
Specialty ETFs produced $870 million in net sales, an improvement from $81 million in net redemptions recorded the previous month.
And money-market ETFs generated $816 million in net sales, an increase from $99 million in December.
ETF assets grew too, with AUM reaching $541.4 billion at the end of January, up by $23.7 billion or 4.6% since December.
On an annual basis, ETF AUM grew by 39.8% as the funds remained hot among investors.