Additionally, U.S. continued to lead major regions, bringing in $459 billion in index fund flows, Asia saw about $117 billion in passive flows and European investors funneled $80 billion into index funds. Overall, passive funds maintained their popularity as investors plowed $695 billion into passive index funds over 2018 at the expense of active strategies, which saw $87 billion in outflows.
Equity funds still attracted $352 billion in inflows as investors grew more strategic with their investment decisions, despite the experiencing their worst calendar-year since 2008. In contrast, equity funds saw $604 billion added for 2017.
Fixed-income funds only brought in $156 billion in 2018, its worst showing since 2013 despite the heightened volatility and shift toward safety, compared to the huge $891 billion in inflows for 2017. Investors cut credit risk and looked to the relative safety of short-duration vehicles in light of increasing interest rate risk as the Federal Reserve sought to normalize interest rates in the late economic cycle.
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