January saw net inflows of €12.3 billion into global exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to figures published by French asset manager, Amundi.
The figure marks a continuation of the defensive trend since the tail end of 2018. Consequently, there has been a bigger demand for US corporate bonds, eurozone government bonds and emerging market equities.
North American equities experienced poor performance with outflows of €16 billion amid a reallocation to emerging market equities, which saw strong inflows of €10 billion. Some €1.26 billion was reallocated from US equities to emerging market equities.
As a result of US equities outflows, “investors are switching to US money market exposures (as well as gold), in a wait and see mode,” Amundi said in a statement.
Meanwhile, socially responsible investing, or SRI, is still very much on investors’ radar and is maintaining steady inflows.
The bond ETF segment saw €6.1 billion of inflows. Amundi noted strong success for emerging markets debt as it topped fixed income inflows this month.
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