During Refinitiv Lipper’s fund-flows week ended August 25, 2021, investors were overall net purchasers of fund assets (including both conventional funds and ETFs) for the fifth consecutive week, attracting $2.9 billion. Taxable bond funds (+$6.7 billion), tax-exempt bond funds (+$1.9 billion), and money market funds (+$738 million) all attracted new money, whereas equity funds (-$6.4 billion) suffered outflows. Index Performance At the close of Refinitiv Lipper’s fund-flows week, U.S. broad-based indices reported a huge bounce-back week— Russell 2000 (+3.73%), NASDAQ (+3.55%), S&P 500 (+2.18%), and DJIA (+1.27%) all ended in the black. Overseas, the Shanghai Composite (+1.67%) and Nikkei 225

Bonds and bond funds, despite the low-interest-rate environment, are in general one of the preferred asset types of European investors. Therefore, it is not surprising that promoters of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also try to get their share of this asset’s growth, which also explains the growing number of bond ETFs in the European market. So far there is nothing wrong with this strategy, since there is no reason why ETF promoters in Europe should not launch bond products. My conversations with European ETF promoters echo the general picture in the European fund market; promoters say they launch those products because