In like a lion, out like a lamb. It’s a saying typically used to describe the weather in March. But it could also be used to characterize the trend we saw in global exchange traded product (ETP) flows as we transitioned out of March and into April.
Year-to-date flows into global exchange traded products have reached $79.9bn, outpacing the $66.3bn of inflows gathered in that same period last year.
But global ETP flows slowed in April to $10.3bn as investor sentiment cooled given less positive economic growth forecasts.
The month’s $9.5 billion of flows into fixed income ETPs and $9.6bn of flows into stock funds were offset by $8.7bn of outflows from gold ETPs.
Lower US inflation expectations, a disappointing Chinese GDP report and rumors of potential gold reserve sales by distressed European countries triggered the largest gold spot price decline in 30-years.