Presented at (including upcoming): SGF Conference Zurich 2026, MFA Annual Meeting 2026, 19th International Behavioral Finance Conference at the University of Chicago 2025, AFA Posters 2025, Midwest Macro Meetings at Purdue University 2024.
We show that equity flows across financial intermediaries amplify monetary policy transmission to asset prices. Using institutional portfolio data, we find that mutual funds with performance-sensitive investors experience outflows after contractionary shocks, triggering forced equity sales. Banks — whose funding is less sensitive to recent performance — absorb these sales and provide liquidity. This intermediary-level heterogeneity aggregates meaningfully: stocks held by more performance-sensitive investors exhibit larger price declines following monetary tightening. To explain these patterns, we develop an intermediary asset pricing model where heterogeneous intermediaries manage portfolios for investors with performance-sensitive flows, highlighting a novel mechanism of monetary transmission in equity markets.