After a roller coaster August for investors, exchange–traded funds and exchange-traded products $2.4 billion in net new assets, according to ETFGI, a London-based research and consultancy firm. While it represented a slowdown from previous months, it nonetheless maintained a record-breaking pace for net ETF inflows.
In the first eight months of 2015, ETFs and ETPs listed globally have experienced net inflows of $219.7 billion, marking a 16% increase over the prior record set during the first eight months of 2014.
In the United States net inflows reached $127.5 billion, which is 19% higher than the prior record set last year, while in Europe year-to-date net inflows climbed to $59.7 billion, representing a 17% increase on the record set YTD through end of August 2014. In Japan, YTD net inflows were up 74% on the record set last year, standing at $28.9 billion at the end of August 2015.
“Worries about China’s stock market, currency and economy mixed with falling commodity prices helped to cause a correction in the U.S. stock market,” Deborah Fuhr, managing partner at ETFGI, said in a statement. “Investors in the United States are concerned given the uncertainty of when the Fed will raise interest rates. The S&P 500 index ended August down 6%.”
At the end of August 2015, the U.S. ETF and ETP industry had 1,768 offerings and assets of $2.03 trillion from 85 providers listed on three exchanges.
Vanguard gathered the largest net ETF and ETP inflows in August with S$3.6 billion, followed by Deutsche Bank x-trackers with $1.4 billion, VelocityShares withS$1.3 billion, ProShares with $969 million and Schwab ETFs with $812 million net inflows.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
