Credit: Shutterstock photoBy Drew Voros
ETF.com Editor-in-Chief
For the second time in almost a year, assets in global exchange-traded funds topped $3 trillion at the end of the first quarter.
The milestone was reached last May, but poor-to-flat market performance across the globe has stagnated asset growth, which is an asset-growth driver in addition to inflows.
As of March 31, the global ETF industry, which also includes exchange-traded notes, counted 6,240 exchange-traded products, with assets of $3.07 trillion, from 277 providers listed on 64 exchanges in 51 countries, according to London-based ETFGI.
However, poor market performance can also be a driver of new money into the space, according to Dave Nadig, director of exchange-traded funds at FactSet Research Systems.
“Historically, we've actually seen down-markets and volatility as good for ETF growth,” he noted. "In choppy markets, people realize they're often overpaying for actively managed funds. So when they rotate back in, they see the value in low-cost index products like ETFs. We saw a similar pattern in 2008."
In the U.S., assets stood at $2.182 trillion at the end of the first quarter of this year, compared with $2.097 trillion at the end of the first quarter in 2015, according to FactSet data. March was the strongest month of the year so far, with $36 billion of inflows.
Rate Of Inflows Cools
After several strong weeks of inflows, asset gathering for ETFs slowed last week to $847 million. Inflows into U.S. equity ETFs and fixed-income ETFs were offset by outflows from international equity ETFs, commodity ETFs and leveraged ETFs.
At the top of the heap in terms of individual ETFs was the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF (USMV), which had an inflow of $555 million.
On the other side of the ledger, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average Trust (DIA) topped the outflows list for the week, losing $538 million.
Top-Performing Sector ETFs
We took a look last week at the top-performing sector ETFs and discovered that the long-standing Select Sector SPDRs family reigns supreme in most sectors, despite the flood of competing sectors funds that have filled the space over the year.
Countless other sector ETFs have come to market, including those that broke the market down further into subsectors and other niches.
JPMorgan Buys Stake In Global X
J.P. Morgan Asset Management announced last week it made a minority investment in Global X Funds, establishing a partnership between the two firms aimed at benefiting both their plans to expand presence in the ETF space.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both firms told ETF.com that the partnership will not result in any changes to their individual businesses, to distribution channels or to marketing plans at this point. No ETF will be rebranded, no portfolio will be tinkered with in any way, they say.
Launches
On Thursday, State Street Global Advisors launched two more actively managed ETFs on the Bats exchange; Bats is also the owner of ETF.com. The funds are subadvised by DoubleLine Capital, the firm founded by Jeffrey Gundlach.
The SPDR DoubleLine Emerging Markets Fixed Income ETF (EMTL) invests in fixed-income securities issued in countries identified as emerging or developing by supranational organizations or by major index providers. It comes with an expense ratio of 0.65%.
The other fund, the SPDR DoubleLine Short Duration Total Return Tactical ETF (STOT), includes Gundlach among its managers, and will invest mainly in U.S. debt with no real limits on type or credit quality. It can even invest in other exchange-traded funds. STOT charges an expense ratio of 0.45%.
First Trust has launched three actively managed funds on the Nasdaq stock exchange that target different slices of non-U.S. markets and are subadvised by RiverFront Investment Group. Each one comes with an expense ratio of 0.83%.
The ETFs are as follows: First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Developed International ETF (RFDI); First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Asia Pacific ETF (RFAP); First Trust RiverFront Dynamic Europe ETF (RFEU).
The funds’ strategy primarily targets stocks with exposure to value, quality and momentum.
Contact Drew Voros at dvoros@etf.com.
More on ETF.com
How To Pick The Right Muni Bond ETF
Japan ETFs: From Leaders To Laggards
New ETFs Offer Unique Gold Exposure
How To Pick The Right Financial Advisor
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
