Get the latest market trends in your inbox
Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with the Axios Markets newsletter. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Denver news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Des Moines news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Minneapolis-St. Paul news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Minneapolis-St. Paul
Tampa-St. Petersburg news in your inbox
Catch up on the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa-St. Petersburg
BlackRock Investment management company logo. Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
If the deluge of forced exits at BlackRock and State Street didn't paint a clear enough picture of what's happening in the world of asset management, December's Morningstar data certainly did.
The big picture: This is the continuation of a long-running theme on Wall Street. Institutional investors, retail investors, high net-worth individuals and even some endowments and pension funds are consistently moving away from asset managers and into low-fee passive strategies.
- Actively managed funds saw nearly $143 billion of outflows in December, their worst month on record.
- Total outflows for 2018 climbed to $301 billion, just below of 2016's record $320 billion of outflows.
- Investors generally blamed volatility and the down market, but passive funds pulled in almost $60 billion in December, Morningstar's data shows.
- Overall, long-term U.S. funds had their greatest monthly outflows in December since October 2008, with $83 billion of cashflow moving out of the investments.
Go deeper: BlackRock to cut 500 jobs as industry faces growing pressure