U.S. Leveraged Loan Fund Outflows Accelerate to Record High

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. leveraged loan funds saw $3.3 billion of net outflows in the week ended Dec. 19, the biggest outflow on record, according to Lipper.

Investors pulled $3 billion from mutual funds that buy the debt, according to Lipper, while exchange-traded funds lost $299 million, Lipper data show . It was the fifth straight week of outflows. Fund flows often trail secondary prices, which have sunk to the lowest since September 2016, according to the S&P/LSTA Leveraged Loan Price Index.

This is the longest string of consecutive outflows exceeding $1 billion on record, according to Lipper data. Last week saw an outflow of $2.53 billion, the second biggest to date.

Since Nov. 21, there has been $9.9 billion withdrawn from loan funds. They are still positive for 2018, with $4.3 billion of inflows year-to-date, Lipper data show.

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