<p>Investors withdrew record amounts of money from bond and equity funds in March while money market funds showed record inflows, as the prospect of a massive economic downturn due to coronavirus rattled nerves, according to the latest data from Lipper.</p>.<p>While investors withdrew $132.6 billion from stock and mixed equity funds - a record outflow going back to at least 2008 - they also pulled an unprecedented $265 billion from bond funds in the same timeframe, according to Lipper.</p>.<p>Although bonds are often seen as a safer bet than equities in a downturn, people were so "ultra nervous" they became concerned about whether even high-quality debt could be serviced because of the downturn, according to Tom Roseen, the head of research services at Refinitiv Lipper.</p>.<p>"It's mom and pop investors saying they were concerned the bond funds could go into default and they'd lose their money," said Roseen.</p>.<p>But he noted that record inflows of $681 billion into money market funds showed investors were still not ready to put their cash under the mattress. Money market funds hold debt instruments with maturities of less than a year with the average maturities being around 90 days, Roseen said.</p>.<p>"People are still wanting to put money to work somewhere. Once the market starts turning around a lot of people will be ready to put money back to work," Roseen said.</p>.<p>The massive flows into money market funds meant that purchasers of mutual fund assets, for the second consecutive month, put $283.7 billion into conventional funds, which exclude Exchange Trade Funds. </p>
<p>Investors withdrew record amounts of money from bond and equity funds in March while money market funds showed record inflows, as the prospect of a massive economic downturn due to coronavirus rattled nerves, according to the latest data from Lipper.</p>.<p>While investors withdrew $132.6 billion from stock and mixed equity funds - a record outflow going back to at least 2008 - they also pulled an unprecedented $265 billion from bond funds in the same timeframe, according to Lipper.</p>.<p>Although bonds are often seen as a safer bet than equities in a downturn, people were so "ultra nervous" they became concerned about whether even high-quality debt could be serviced because of the downturn, according to Tom Roseen, the head of research services at Refinitiv Lipper.</p>.<p>"It's mom and pop investors saying they were concerned the bond funds could go into default and they'd lose their money," said Roseen.</p>.<p>But he noted that record inflows of $681 billion into money market funds showed investors were still not ready to put their cash under the mattress. Money market funds hold debt instruments with maturities of less than a year with the average maturities being around 90 days, Roseen said.</p>.<p>"People are still wanting to put money to work somewhere. Once the market starts turning around a lot of people will be ready to put money back to work," Roseen said.</p>.<p>The massive flows into money market funds meant that purchasers of mutual fund assets, for the second consecutive month, put $283.7 billion into conventional funds, which exclude Exchange Trade Funds. </p>