ETFGI’s research finds October’s global net new asset (NNA) inflows of US$35.8 Bn, while large, are not a record month. The largest month for NNA inflows was September 2012 with US$45.8 Bn. Year-to-date ETFs and ETPs globally have gathered a record US$233.0 Bn in NNA through the end of October 2014, surpassing the previous high of US$205.2 Bn set in the first 10 months of 2013. At the end of October 2014, the global ETF/ETP industry had 5,516 ETFs/ETPs, with 10,628 listings, from 228 providers listed on 61 exchanges with assets of US$2.68 Tn, which is down slightly from the record high of US$2.70 Tn at the end of August 2014, according to preliminary data from ETFGI’s end October 2014 Global ETF and ETP industry insights report.
Year-to-date NNA flows reached record levels for the ETF/ETP industries in Japan with US$15.7 Bn, Europe with US$56.1 Bn, and globally with US$233.4 Bn. Assets invested in the US-listed ETF/ETP industry hit a new record high of US$1.95 Tn.
In October the global ETF/ETP industry gathered a record level of NNA into fixed income products, with US$20.3 Bn surpassing the prior high of US$16.2 Bn set in February 2014. US-listed ETFs/ETPs also registered a record level of monthly NNA into fixed income products, gathering US$16.3 Bn surpassing the prior record of US$13.5 Bn set in February 2014.
“October was a challenging month with increasing macroeconomic concerns over deflation fears in Europe, the ECB’s stimulus program, Germany cutting GDP forecasts due to “geopolitical crisis”, dismal employment figures in France, 25 of around 130 European banks having reported to have failed the ECB’s “stress test”, and questions over the U.K.’s continued membership in the European Common Market. At the end of the month the markets reacted positively to the Bank of Japan’s announcement of new annual purchasing targets of ¥80 Tn in bonds and ¥3 Tn in ETFs. The S+P 500 reached a new record, 2,017, which is up 1.2% for the month and 9.2% for the year. Developed markets ended the month down 2% while emerging markets gained 2%.” according to Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner at ETFGI.