Fixed Income ETFs Added Billions in February as Equity Funds Bled

March 21, 2016 at 11:14 AM

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Exchange-traded funds and products listed on U.S. exchanges had net inflows of $1.5 billion in February, raising assets in 1,863 funds from 95 providers to more than $2 trillion, ETFGI reported last week.

ETFs/ETPs listed globally gathered $10.8 billion in net new assets in February, the 25th consecutive month of net inflows, according to the report.

The global industry had assets of $2.9 trillion in 6,200 funds from 279 providers, with 11,963 listings on 64 exchanges in 51 countries.

U.S.-listed fixed income ETFs/ETPs in February had the largest net inflows with $10.5 billion, followed by $5.6 billion for commodity funds. The commodity flows set a monthly record, exceeding the September 2012 high of $4.3 billion.

Equity ETFs/ETPs hemorrhaged a net $15.3 billion in February.

"February was another volatile month for equity markets, which drove investors to invest net flows into government bonds and gold," ETFGI's managing partner Deborah Fuhr said in a statement.

"The S&P 500 closed the month down 0.13%. Despite recent uncertainty, emerging markets gained 0.31% in February, while developed markets outside of the U.S. declined 1%."

Vanguard's U.S.-listed funds enjoyed the largest net ETF/ETP inflows in February with $3.6 billion. iShares trailed with $2 billion net inflows and SPDR ETFs with $1.2 billion.

This year to date, Vanguard has recorded the most net inflows with $7.4 billion, followed by SPDR ETFs with $1.9 billion and iShares with $1.7 billion.

Globally in 2016, Vanguard has amassed net ETF/ETP inflows of $8.1 billion, followed by Nomura AM's $5.7 billion and iShares' $3.6 billion net inflows.

With a 33.5% market share, S&P Dow Jones has the largest amount of U.S.-listed ETF/ETP assets tracking its benchmarks. MSCI is second with 14.4% market share, followed by FTSE Russell with 13.6% market share.

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