- ETF industry continued to accumulate assets in February
- Global exchange traded products, which include both ETFs and exchange traded notes, gathered $9.4 billion
- Garnering investors’ attention over February, ETFs that track gold price movements saw a new monthly flow record of $7.2 billion
The exchange traded fund industry continued to accumulate assets in February on safe-haven demand for gold and U.S. Treasuries as investors remained wary of global growth and declining oil prices.
Global exchange traded products, which include both ETFs and exchange traded notes, gathered $9.4 billion in February and attracted $24.3 billion year-to-date, according to BlackRock data. The global ETP industry now makes up $2.834 trillion in assets under management.
Garnering investors’ attention over February, ETFs that track gold price movements saw a new monthly flow record of $7.2 billion, surpassing the previous high in 2009. The ongoing negative rates in Japan and Europe, along with global growth problems, triggered a surge in bullion interest and drove gold prices above $1,200 per ounce, or 17% higher this year. The SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) was the most popular ETF of February, bringing in $3.97 billion in net inflows, according to ETF.com.
Also looking at commodities, crude oil products gathered $1.2 billion as prices experienced another volatile month and investors tried to time the market bottom.
Global commodities-related ETPs saw $11.4 billion in net inflows last month.
The growth concerns and spike in market volatility diminished the outlook for further Federal Reserve rate hikes, adding to demand for fixed-income assets. Moreover, the sudden spike in risk helped push investors into safe-haven U.S. Treasury ETFs, which saw assets surge $4.7 billion in February. For instance, the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEArca: IEI) added $1.06 billion in inflows and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (NYSEArca: TLT) brought in $854.9 million.