“There’s some seasonality there, to be sure, but there’s no doubt that investors see the utility of a prepackaged answer to their investing needs,” he said in a note.
ETFs are low-cost baskets of securities, similar to mutual funds, that can be bought and sold on exchanges during the day.
With the S&P 500 within range of its all-time highs, investors have been using equity-based ETFs to get exposure to the stock market. Equity mutual funds and ETFs pulled in $34.2 billion of net inflows in January, the highest monthly total since 1996. [Stock Funds and ETFs see Big Inflows]
“With ETF flows so solidly ‘Risk on,’ at least we know the market’s huge move from the March 2009 lows is, finally, getting some attention,” Colas said in a recent report. [‘Burnburner Month’ for Stock ETFs]