Equity ETFs Continue to Draw Inflows

By Marlene Satter

News October 09, 2018 at 05:11 PM

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Equity ETFs are humming along, bringing in more than $29 billion in inflows in September.

That's according to State Street Global Advisors' US-Listed ETF Flash Flows report, which finds that U.S.-focused equity ETFs brought in more than $28.6 billion, out of the $29.1 billion entering all equity ETFs.

That continues the trend from August, when total inflows were $20 billion. September's new money raised the year-to-date total above $140 billion.

Last year at this time, however, equity ETFs had attracted a whopping $223 billion in inflows.

For their part, fixed income ETFs brought in $6.4 billion during September. That gives them a 38-consecutive-month streak of inflows. And market share has grown since that streak began in June of 2015, to the point that fixed-income ETFs now hold 17.2% of total ETF industry assets. At the beginning of the streak, their market share was 15.9%.

Sector performance was led by health care ETFs, which brought in $2.5 billion during September with investors looking for defensive growth.

Next came the new communications services sector, the combination of existing telecommunications stocks with media and tech giants from consumer discretionary and technology. That stirred up movement in the market, bringing in more than $1.5 billion. The new sector makes up 10% of the S&P 500's market value.

Last and least were the materials and energy sectors, which both saw outflows — the former $127 million and the latter $160 million.

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