By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: September 25, 2020 ~

Refinitiv Lipper has been reporting fund flows into and out of the stock market for the past 18 years. According to its most recent report, for the week ended Wednesday, September 23, equity (stock) funds, including both equity mutual funds and equity Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), have now seen a net outflow of money for the sixth straight week.

This week’s outflow from equity funds totaled -$14.9 billion. That’s the largest outflow by far in the past six weeks. It brings the total net outflow from equity mutual funds and equity ETFs to a net outflow of $42 billion beginning with the week ending August 19.

That may not sound like a lot of money in a $35 trillion (as of June 30, 2020) market, but it is if you focus on the word “net.” If you have a long-term pattern of “net” outflows from stocks, it’s going to be tough to move the needle higher, even if you have Nasdaq Whales trying to gin up the market with options. (See here and here.)