4 ETF trends

1. Widespread flight to safety – In April, investor caution over future economic growth sped up a flight to safety, with fixed income flows accelerating to US$9.9 billion after a slow March. That’s according to BlackRock’s Global ETP Landscape report. European fixed income funds led the way with US$2.3 billion followed by U.S. Treasury funds which surprised with a jump of US$1.9 billion, despite widespread concerns about rising interest rates. Emerging markets debt experienced its biggest inflows in two years—US$1.1 billion.
2. Changing views on China – Investors shuffled their China exposure in April according to BlackRock’s data. While broad emerging markets equities gained US$2.5 billion in assets, China equity flows marked a shift away from mainland listed A-shares into Hong Kong listed H-shares. All told, investors pulled US$11.6 billion from mainland China and put US$3.9 billion into Hong Kong.
3. Concerns about U.S. stocks continue – BlackRock’s report also notes outflows from U.S. equities (US$15.5 billion in total) with weakness in large and small cap funds.
4. Canada’s still growing – A report from London-based ETFGI showed ETF assets in Canada hitting a new record of US$69.9 billion in April. This was led by fixed income ETFs at US$701 million followed by equities (US$56 million).
5. Commodities are still on the outs – Canadian investors shed their commodity ETFs with outflows of US$24 million for the month of April, according to ETFGI.

Also read:

• ETFs following hedge funds on the path to pension portfolios
• Why aren’t more plan sponsors using ETFs?
• ETFs inflows best mutual funds…in the U.S., anyway