Investors are shifting large amounts of money from actively-managed funds to lower-cost index funds, according to the Wall Street Journal. Through November, investors pulled $119.3 billion from actively managed mutual funds, while at the same time pouring $30.4 billion into ETFs, which typically track broad indices. The causes behind the shift appear to be a growing investor distaste for volatility, and the fact that many actively-managed funds have underperformed their benchmarks in recent years.
The WSJ article is available here (subscription required).