June 2024 was another month with healthy inflows for the global ETF industry. These inflows occurred in a positive market environment. Nevertheless, equity markets looked somewhat vulnerable given the high valuations of the market leaders. With regard to this, it is not surprising that investors are nervous and reacting quite fast on any news that may impact the current market environment negatively. This is not only true for economic news, as the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, especially the developments around the Red Sea, are seen as a risk for the general economic growth in Western countries since a

General Overview February 2024 was another month with healthy inflows for the global ETF industry. These inflows occurred in a further unstable market environment since the geopolitical tensions in Middle East, especially the Red Sea, increased over the course of the month as the European Union decided to send military ships to protect commercial vessels from the attacks of Houthi rebels. Nevertheless, since a number of shipping companies avoid nowadays the passage of the Suez channel, it is to be expected that the prolonged delivery times will cause some tensions for the still vulnerable delivery chains. Market sentiment was further

It was not surprising to witness that the European fund industry enjoyed inflows over the course of the first half of 2023. Nevertheless, these inflows occurred in an unstable market environment in which some asset classes showed positive results, while others performed negatively. The market sentiment was still driven by hopes that central banks, especially the U.S. Federal Reserve, may have reached the last phase of their fight against high inflation rates and may, therefore, start to keep interest rates at least stable quite soon. Some investors already expect that there might be room for decreasing interest rates later this

This article reviews the panel discussion “ETF distribution in a post-coronavirus world” which took place at the ETF Ecosystem Unwrapped 2022 conference in London, organized by ETF Stream. Asked about the key factors for future growth of the ETF industry, Caroline Baron (Head of ETF Business Development, EMEA at Franklin Templeton) said that beside other factors, client education would be one of the key drivers for future growth. Her fellow panelists, Kate Dwyer (Head of Passives UK at Invesco) and Sam Manchanda (Head of Passive Client Coverage Division, North EMEA at DWS), agreed with this view. Kate Dwyer amended that

Looking back on the year 2020, it can be said that no investor has seen such a year before, even if one looks back to the Great Depression or World Wars I and II. The year started off with fears about a possible war between North Korea and the U.S., an upcoming trade war between the U.S. and China, and a possible hard Brexit. In a normal year, these geopolitical tensions would have put enough pressure on the markets to cause a major downturn. But in mid-February the coronavirus, which has been seen as a local problem in China before,

Banks are among the first to kick off the upcoming U.S. earnings season. Several of the largest U.S. banks are reporting on Jan. 15, including Citigroup, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase & Co. Along with most of the financial sector, banks were among the hardest hit during the Covid-19-induced bear market. However, many have recently regained some favor – with price performance outpacing even some of the most popular tech sector stocks in recent weeks, as can be seen in Exhibit 1 below. By contrast, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 has been essentially flat over this four-week period. Exhibit 1 shows

European investors bought further back into mutual funds and ETFs in July. Since the global equity markets stabilized further, investors returned to long-term mutual funds because they expect the massive stimulus packages from central banks and governments globally to keep interest rates low and to foster global economic growth after the lockdowns caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 are lifted in more countries around the globe. As a result, long-term mutual funds posted overall net inflows for the month. Bond funds (+€24.2 bn) were the best-selling long-term asset type for July, followed by equity funds (+€14.4 bn), mixed-assets funds (+€4.9

The coronavirus pandemic hit the European fund industry with declining markets and estimated net outflows of €125.9 bn in the first quarter of 2020. This trend reversed over the course of the second quarter as central banks and governments around the globe started quantitative easing programs and economic relief packages to cushion the economic drawdowns caused by the spread of the coronavirus and the lockdowns of economies around the globe. The measures taken led to a rebound of the equity markets accompanied by falling interest rates. The return to somewhat normal market circumstances led investors to buy back into mutual

European investors bought further back into mutual funds and ETFs in June. Since the global equity markets stabilized further, investors returned to long-term mutual funds because they expect the massive stimulus packages from central banks and governments globally to keep the interest rates low and to kickstart economic growth after the lockdowns caused by the outbreak of COVID-19 are lifted in more countries around the globe. As a result, long-term mutual funds posted overall net inflows for the month. Bond funds (+€31.1 bn) were the best-selling long-term asset type for June, followed by equity funds (+€14.1 bn), mixed-assets funds (+€9.3

European investors bought further back into mutual funds and ETFs in May after massive outflows from these products in March. Investors returned to the markets after they had somewhat stabilized after the massive stimulus packages by central banks and governments globally following the outbreak of COVID-19, which caused widespread worldwide lockdowns and stoked fears of a global recession. As a result, long-term mutual funds posted overall net inflows for the month. Bond funds (+€29.6 bn) were the best-selling long-term asset type for May, followed by equity funds (+€7.9 bn), mixed-assets funds (+€5.7 bn), commodities funds (+€2.4 bn), ”other” funds (+€0.7

As the security markets further recovered from the lockdown-induced downturn caused by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, May was another positive month for the European ETF industry, with ETF promoters enjoying inflows. The combination of below average inflows and the positive performance of underlying markets led to an increase in assets under management from €777.9 bn as of April 30, 2020, to €798.7 bn at the end of May. The increase of €20.8 bn for May was driven by the performance of the underlying markets (+€15.5 bn), while the net inflows contributed €5.3 bn to the increase in assets.

European investors started to buy back into mutual funds and ETFs in April after massive outflows from these products in March. Investors returned to the markets after they had somewhat stabilized following the outbreak of COVID-19, which caused widespread worldwide lockdowns and stoked fears of a global recession. As a result, long-term mutual funds posted overall net inflows for the month. Bond funds (+€23.5 bn) were the best-selling asset type for April, followed by equity funds (+€18.4 bn), ”other” funds (+€1.7 bn), mixed-assets funds (+€1.5 bn), commodities funds (+€0.8 bn), and real estate funds (+€0.04 bn). On the other hand,