We identify fixed-income mutual funds as an important contributor to the unusually high selling pressure in liquid asset markets during the Covid-19 crisis. We show that mutual fund liquidity transformation led to pronounced investor outflows. In meeting redemptions, funds followed a pecking...

We develop a two-layer asset pricing framework to analyze the fragility of the corporate bond market. In the model, households allocate wealth to institutional investors such as mutual funds and insurance companies. Institutional investors then allocate funds to specific assets. Equilibrium...