October was not a month for investment funds. These products attracted more money than usual, achieving their best month of 2024 in terms of net subscriptions – money in minus money out. The last quarter of the year began by not only breaking this record, but The best October in the historic series was recordedaccording to statistics compiled by Inverco.
The latter part of the year is the time when many investors take the opportunity to readjust their portfolios. But it is not usual for the management sector in Spain to receive so many positive money flows. The funds raised almost 3.8 billion euros in October, already adding more than 23 billion accumulated during the year.. This figure is higher than what they achieved in the entire year of 2023, where 18.362 million entered; This figure had already been exceeded at the end of last September.
Fixed income once again attracted the greatest interest from fund participants, although debt didn’t exactly bring much joy in October. Bonds, in fact, experienced their worst month in two years, with declines of more than 3% according to the global debt index which includes Bloomberg due to fears that central banks may not cut rates as much as they had planned. Despite this, bond funds record net subscriptions of more than 2.1 billion euros. In the year, there are already more than 18 billion people attracting these products. This is logical both because of the context of falling silver prices and the conservative profile that characterizes the saver in Spain. The flows are oriented above all towards short-term assets, as Inverco specifies, even if many experts assure that now would be the right time to extend the duration of the portfolios.
On the other hand, vehicles that invest in variable income continue to experience repayments.. This past month, the exception concerns those in the international stock market, which attract more money than goes out; Net subscriptions reach 37.9 million, although during the year they still accumulate refunds worth 43 million. Products considered global are those that experience the most departures during the month and year.
With record money inflows in October, the funds are approaching the round figure of 400 billion euros of assets under management. The industry closed the month with assets of 393 billion, which represents an increase of nearly 45 billion in 2024, thanks to the flows captured, but also to the revaluation carried out by the majority of investment vehicles.
Savings are clearly accumulated in fixed income products, which represent 140 billion in assets (more than 35% of the total). Although more capital goes out than comes in during the year, the international and global equity fund categories are the ones adding the most money managed thanks to the significant profits that the stock markets will realize in 2024.
They are drawing a bearish month
This past month has not been bullish for the major markets as it had been for most of the year. Most stock indices ended October in negative territory, and fixed income securities were not spared from losses either. However, with preliminary data released by Inverco on Thursday, investment funds are achieving an average return of 0.46%, with all categories below 1.65%.
In the year, the average return is 6.22%highlighting index funds. The big stock market benchmarks are hard to beat this year, and this category is seeing average gains of 18.69%.
