7. Demand and dollars invested in Pan-European ETFs reached all-time highs. When news of the Eurozone’s emergence from a recession during the second quarter of the year made headlines, investors flocked to this space. We saw $24.3 billion in inflows during the second half of the year through November.
8. Monetary and fiscal policy heavily influenced ETF flows. Fears of the fiscal cliff, shifting signals from the Fed, quantitative easing in Japan and Abenomics, plus debt ceiling negotiations, led to sporadic peaks and valleys throughout the year.
9. U.S. retail investors increased their ETF usage. We see that these investments are becoming more mainstream, as more than $20 billion in assets came from individual investors this year alone.
10. Gold outflows were a consistent and significant drag on industry growth. This year’s 48% drop in assets contrasted record-breaking inflows in 2012.
Dodd Kittsley, CFA, is the Global Head of ETP Research for BlackRock and a regular contributor to the The Blog. You can find more of his posts here.
Sources: BlackRock, Bloomberg
*Based on November 2013 data.