US exchange-traded product assets hit an all time high of USD678bn at the end of August 2009, four per cent above the previous all time high of USD653bn set in July 2009 and 11.3 per ce
US exchange-traded product assets hit an all time high of USD678bn at the end of August 2009, four per cent above the previous all time high of USD653bn set in July 2009 and 11.3 per cent above the high set in April 2008, according to figures from Barclays Global Investors.
The US ETP industry had 846 ETPs, net new inflows of USD54.3bn year-to-date with total assets of USD678bn from 36 providers on three exchanges at the end of August 2009.
YTD assets have risen by 25.1 per cent which is more than the 13.5 per cent rise in the MSCI US Index in US dollar terms.
Contrasting this to the latest data from Strategic Insight, net inflows to mutual funds (excluding ETPs) domiciled in the US were minus USD50.5bn in the first six months of 2009.
Deborah Fuhr, global head of ETF research and implementation strategy at BGI, says: ‘The net inflows of USD54.3bn in the past eight months shows demand for ETPs is still growing as clients view ETPs as useful tools to help them implement many types of exposures.’
Fixed income ETPs have seen the largest net inflows with USD29.5bn net new assets YTD. The most popular fixed income exposure has been corporate bond ETPs with USD8.7bn net inflows, followed by inflation linked ETPs with USD6.7bn, and ETPs tracking aggregate bond benchmarks with USD4.3bn.
Commodity focused ETPs was the second most popular asset category in terms of net flows, with USD23.8bn. Precious metals commodity ETPs grew the most with USD12.9bn net new assets, followed by energy ETPs with USD5.0bn and broad commodity exposures with USD3.7bn.
Emerging markets equity ETPs was the third most popular asset category with USD12.9bn net inflows. Broad emerging market equity exposures saw net inflows of USD6.1bn YTD, followed by Brazil focused ETPs with USD2.2bn, and ETPs tracking Chinese benchmarks with USD1.3bn net new assets.
