The first U.S. government’s first shutdown since the 1990s and the ensuing fear over a debt ceiling crisis did not deter investors from pouring a tidy $32.9 billion into exchange traded funds in October.
As BlackRock data indicate, the shutdown and debt ceiling threat loomed large last month. The world’s largest asset manager said the ETF industry saw inflows of $24.3 billion AFTER Oct. 17, when the government got back to work and the debt ceiling was raised.
“October Equity flows of $35.9bn included $18.0bn from US exposures. Flows into non-US exposures eclipsed $15bn for the second month in a row. Year-to-date Equity flows of $201.3bn are 72% higher than year-to-date 2012 flows of $117.0bn,” according to a research note from BlackRock.
Pan-European ETFs raked in $7.9 billion last month, the third straight month of record-breaking inflows while emerging markets funds saw $2.4 billion worth of inflows, indicating investors are starting to see some value downtrodden developing world stocks. [October a Banner Month for ETF Inflows]
While bond ETFs as a group saw monthly outflows, high-yield debt funds saw inflows of $2.8 billion in October, a 21-month high. [Junk Bond ETFs Loving a No Tapering World]
