Outflows are the kind of thing that can inspire soul searching in a fund firm, if they are bad enough.

After seeing $8.8 billion of fund slows through July 31st, does Fidelity need to discover anything about itself.

Trevor Hunnicutt at InvestmentNews delves into the subject a bit, noting that slightly more Fido stock funds and ETFs have seen withdrawals than pulled in new money: 105 compared to 101.

Hunnicutt cites Lipper analyst Barry Fennell as saying that the outflows are an indicator of the bigger trend of investors moving towards passive products. Vanguard's long-standing explosive growth is a powerful indicator of this trend.

Indeed, in addition to its well-oiled 401(k) operations, Fido has always been known to be a bastion of active investing, from Peter Lynch to William Danoff and Steven Wymer.

However, even the Behemoth has begun to embrace passive products, such as establishing Tony Rochte's SelectCo arm.

There may be more changes to come, given Abby Johnson's ascendance in the company. 

Edited by: Tommy Fernandez


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