Yes, bond ETFs have been popular this year with many nervous investors opting for safety and avoiding stocks. In the U.S., taxable bond ETFs have gathered $48 billion year to date through November, according to Morningstar. However, ETF investors haven’t abandoned stocks. U.S. equity ETFs have taken in $30.2 billion so far in 2012, sector stock ETFs have gathered $27.7 billion and international equity ETFs have pulled in $31.9 billion. [Stock ETFs See Inflows as Investors Flee Mutual Funds After Crisis]
“The story in the 2012 numbers is the incredible breadth of funds involved,” said David Nadig, director of research at IndexUniverse, in a recent Bloomberg News report.
Assets in exchange traded products have more than doubled since the end of 2008. Providers launched 176 new ETPs in 2012, according to the article. Also, a record number of ETFs closed this year as the industry consolidates and matures. [ETF Liquidations]
“Our numerous conversations with the investment professionals at several large ETF sponsors over the past month shows a uniform confidence that ETF growth in assets under management is just hitting its stride. The combination of low fees, investor education, new marketing/advertising initiatives, and an increasingly experienced base of sales executives all add up to an increasing ‘edge’ for ETFs over single stocks and mutual funds,” Colas wrote in Friday’s note.
“I started my career at a mutual fund complex in the mid-1980s, at the beginning of that industry’s rise to prominence. The fundamentals of the exchange traded fund product in 2012 feel much the same to me,” he said.