After a painful April, passive funds saw their flows bounce back by nearly $74 billion last month. Yet active funds' outflows worsened.

Laurence D. "Larry" Fink BlackRock Chairman, CEO

This article draws from Morningstar Direct data on May 2022 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows, excluding money-market funds and funds of funds. The data also excludes other asset management products, like SMAs and CITs.

First Trust took the lead last month on the active side, thanks to an estimated $1.39 billion in net May 2022 active inflows, up month-over-month from $371 million in April 2022 and up year-over-year from $1.278 billion in May 2021. Other big May 2022 active inflows winners included: DFA, $1.105 billion (up M/M from $212 million in net outflows, up Y/Y from $625 million in net outflows); GQG, $939 million (up M/M from $366 million, up Y/Y from $266 million); American Century (including Avantis), $621 million (up M/M from $67 million, down Y/Y from $983 million); and Innovator, $572 million (up M/M from $327 million, up Y/Y from $128 million).

BlackRock (including iShares) took the lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $34.14 billion in net May 2022 passive inflows, up M/M from $9.849 billion in net April 2022 outflows and up Y/Y from $13.932 billion in May 2021. Other big May 2022 passive inflows winners included: Vanguard, $16.439 billion (up M/M from $5.134 billion, down Y/Y from $30.974 billion); SSGA, $8.095 billion (up M/M from $11.294 billion in net outflows, up Y/Y from $42 million in net outflows); Fidelity, $7.104 billion (up M/M from $6.271 billion, down Y/Y from $9.571 billion); and Charles Schwab, $2.388 billion (down M/M from $2.704 billion, down Y/Y from $4.388 billion).

On the flip side, last month was another rough one for Vanguard's active funds, which kept the active outflows lead thanks to an estimated $12.228 billion in net May 2022 outflows, down M/M from $12.716 billion in April 2022 and down Y/Y from $2.202 billion in net May 2021 inflows. Other big May 2022 active outflows sufferers included: Fidelity, $8.388 billion (up M/M from $7.296 billion, up Y/Y from $2.43 billion); Capital Group's American Funds, $7.158 billion (up M/M from $3.572 billion, down Y/Y from $2.128 billion in net inflows); Franklin Templeton (including Royce), $6.516 billion (up M/M from $4.397 billion, up Y/Y from $441 million); and Pimco, $5.757 billion (up M/M from $5.182 billion, down Y/Y from $2.19 billion in net inflows).

T. Rowe Price took the outflows lead on the passive side last month, thanks to an estimated $1.559 billino in net May 2022 passive outflows, down M/M from $427 million in net April 2022 inflows and up Y/Y from $270 million in May 2021. Other big May 2022 passive outflows sufferers included: VanEck, $1.225 billion (down M/M from $1.772 billion in net inflows, down Y/Y from $1.048 billion in net inflows); J.P. Morgan (including Six Circles), $446 million (down M/M from $696 million, down Y/Y from $2.372 billion in net inflows); Goldman Sachs, $439 million (down M/M from $173 million in net inflows, up Y/Y from $280 million); and DWS (including Xtrackers), $429 million (down M/M from $634 million, down Y/Y from $283 million in net inflows).

Overall, the 724 active fund firms tracked by the M* team (down M/M from 734, up Y/Y from 696) suffered an estimated $109.837 billion in net active outflows in May 2022, up M/M from $86.386 billion in April 2022 but down Y/Y from $11.451 billion in net May 2021 inflows. 266 firms gained net active inflows in May 2022, down M/M from 292 and down Y/Y from 391.

The 161 passive fund firms tracked by the M* team (up M/M from 159, up Y/Y from 147) brought in an estimated $70.729 billion in net May 2022 inflows, up M/M from $2.838 billion in net April 2022 outflows and down Y/Y from $71.314 billion in May 2021. 72 firms gained net inflows last month, down M/M from 79 and down Y/Y from 78.

Editor's Note: A prior version of this story gave the wrong May 2022 active fund inflows for First Trust. To confirm, First Trust brought in $1.39 billion in active inflows in May. 

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