US Fund Flows: Record ETF Inflows and Rising Interest in Sector-Equity Funds in November

US funds raked in $115 billion in November, their highest total since April 2021. Relative to earlier in the year, US equity and sector-equity funds came back to life after a sleepy stretch, both enjoying their best months of 2024. The market’s cheery reaction to Trump’s election sent stock prices higher and likely energized the broader equity-fund investor base. 

The charts below illustrate which direction the money is flowing for a variety of fund types. For a more complete analysis, download the full monthly 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. 

ETFs raked in a record $159 billion in November to reach $966 billion of inflows this year. That broke the previous annual record of $901 billion in 2021. ETFs’ organic growth rate of 16.4% that year will be hard to beat, though; this year’s rate was 11.9% through November. However, with one month left on the calendar, ETFs will almost certainly book their first $ 1 trillion year of flows.

US equity funds enjoyed their strongest monthly inflow since March 2021, collecting just over $50 billion. That figure represented their best organic growth rate since December 2023 and one of the best results over the past five years. Six of the nine Style Box categories enjoyed inflows in November. Index funds took in $78 billion, while active funds shed nearly $28 billion. 

After being mired in a multiyear slump, sector-equity funds awakened in November, taking in $12 billion—their most since March 2021. The category group had enjoyed just eight months of inflows since the start of 2022. Investors borrowed some lessons from Trump’s previous election win in 2016, pouring money into cyclical sectors such as financial and industrials, though at lower rates. 

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

• Active/passive flows by US category group 

• Flows for the largest fund families 

• Government bond fund and money market flows  

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 October 2024. Download the full report here. 

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