With the dollar surging and emerging markets rebounding somewhat this year, outflows from international ETFs have stemmed with investors flocking to ex-U.S. developed market funds. ETFs added $18.3 billion in new assets last month, with the bulk of those flows going to EAFE and Japan funds. Seven of this year’s top 10 asset-gathering ETFs are international developed market funds. [International ETFs Lead May ETF Flows]
At the sector level, TD Ameritrade notes healthcare allocations grew the most since 2012. Interestingly, that growth has been fueled by old investors. The aging U.S. population is widely cited as validation of the long-term bull thesis for healthcare stocks and ETFs. According to TD Ameritrade data, investors in the 56 to 65 age group and those 76 years old and older boosted healthcare allocations by 3% while investors ages 66 to 75 increased their healthcare exposure by 4%. [More Upside Seen for a big Healthcare ETF]
Over the past three years, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLV), the largest healthcare ETF by assets, has surged more than 117% while hauling in $4.21 billion in assets.
Chart Courtesy: TD Ameritrade