US and European investors have opposing preferences following April’s global ETF flows, according to Societe Generale’s ETF Market Signals report.
ETFs in US equities, domiciled in the States, saw $14.3bn worth of inflows in April, the largest of any asset class. European equities also attracted $785m in the same period and region.
Across the pond, European investors took a slightly different stance. Both US and European equities saw outflows of $1.4bn and $1.2bn, respectively. Both US and Europe-listed European equity ETFs had net flows of -$459m.
Instead, fixed income ETFs were the product of choice for the European investors. Investment grade corporate bond, high yield corporate bond, and emerging market bonds had a total $3.8bn worth of inflows.
Gold ETFs had a difficult period last month, losing $2.1bn and the commodity’s assets under management is still haemorrhaging in the early stages of May.
Within the equity market, it was the financial sector which caught the most attention following its best performing month this year, directly after being the worst performing sector in March. Both the US and Europe saw a total inflow of $1.7bn.
At the other end of the table, the healthcare sector faced a sell off in the US of $1.4bn, making it the worst sector in terms of flows.
Notably, ESG ETFs maintained steady inflows in the US and Europe, receiving $342m and $129m, respectively, making it the most popular strategy for European investors.
