Increasing market volatility sees US$17bn in US net redemptions

ETF flows worldwide slowed down to $12 billion during January 2016, following US$51 billion of net deposits in December 2015. Equity products experienced net withdrawals of US$8 billion, while bond products collected as much as US$15 billion in net new cash for the month. ETF assets went down marginally to US$2.8 trillion globally. 

In the U.S., equity products suffered US$17 billion in net redemptions amid increasing market volatility and uncertain economic outlook. Investors pulled out over US$20 billion from Equity US - Large Cap funds. On the other hand, bond ETFs recorded US$14 billion in net inflows, mainly to Bond USD and Bond USD- Short Term products. In addition, commodity products added US$3 billion.

European ETFs saw a moderate US$3 billion in net flows, coming mostly from Europe Equity – Large Cap. Asia gathered the largest amount of inflows (US$9 billion) among all regions. Equity Japan became the top-selling category helped by Bank of Japan’s monetary easing moves to stimulate the economy.

Fuh Hwa Hang Seng ETF in Taiwan was the biggest ETF new launch in January, attracting nearly US$44 million in net flows. Fuh Hwa Securities Investment Trust listed three ETFs tracking the Hang Seng Index (HSI), the HSI Short Index and the HSI Leveraged Index, respectively. They together collected over US$80 million of net new money for the month.