Mutual fund net sales and net asset figures and exchange traded fund (ETF) net sales and net asset numbers for January 2021 are now available from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC), with IFIC saying total mutual fund assets pulled back slightly month-over-month in the first month of 2021.  

Mutual fund assets totalled $1.775-trillion at the end of January 2021, a decrease of $8.5-billion or 0.5 per cent compared to December 2020 when mutual fund net assets were $1.78-trillion. Year-over-year mutual fund assets still increased, up from $1.66-trillion at the end of January 2020. ETF assets meanwhile, increased to $259.8-billion, up month-over-month and year-over-year, compared to December 2020 and January 2020 when net ETF assets were $257.3-billion and $211-billion.  

Mutual funds and ETFs both saw notable increases in their net sales during the month, increasing month-over-month and year-over-year in both cases. Mutual funds recorded net sales of $11.9-billion in January 2021, up from almost $6-billion in net sales recorded during the same period in 2020, and up from $7.3-billion in net sales recorded in December 2020. ETF sales, meanwhile, were $4-billion in January 2021, $3.7-billion in January 2020 and $3.9-billion in December 2020.