Canadian ETFs continued to haul in new money during the month of September, despite a brutally volatile August and ongoing uncertainty about slowing global growth, a Fed rate hike, and the impact of China’s slowing economy on the rest of the world.
And while you might think investors reacted to market volatility by shifting more money into fixed income ETFs, that simply wasn’t the case.
National Bank Financial’s report on September ETF fund flows shows yet another record—September’s ETF inflows hit $1.7 billion, the second highest month of 2015. Investors spread that money across asset classes, with Canadian equities leading the pack at $586 million of new money followed by international equities at $371 million driven mainly by the EAFE region.
Fixed income ETFs grew steadily, with an understandable bias to short-term and corporate issues offering up a bit more of a cushion against rising interest rates.
Looking at 2015 so far, investors have shown an overall preference for bonds and international equities. So far this year, international equities have seen inflows of $3.5 billion, which is a huge jump from the start of the year when assets stood at just $6.2 billion. Fixed income has seen year to date inflows of over $5 billion.
The popularity of ETFs come at a time when liquidity and costs are paramount concerns for investors—which is probably why, according to London-based consulting firm, ETFGI, the industry has been pumping out new participants at a record pace. According to their numbers, 2015 has seen a record number of new providers enter the ETF space in the U.S.
Nineteen new ETF providers came into the U.S. ETF industry in the first nine months of 2015. Collectively, they’ve launched 37 new products and accounted for US$1.1 billion in new assets as of Sept. 29. Most of them follow smart beta strategies—seven are active products.
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