Following Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election, global exchange traded products attracted record inflows fueled by U.S. equities.
Global ETPs, which are comprised of both exchange traded funds and exchange traded notes, saw $56 billion in inflows over November, the best month since December 2014, according to a BlackRock note.
Most of the money flowed into U.S. equity ETFs, with new monthly flow records in small-caps, financials and industrials as well as strong flows to large-caps on speculation of new stimulus and favorable policies under the new Trump administration. Election week flows made up almost three-fourths of the month’s total, driven by U.S. stock funds as several equity indices hit record highs.
In November, U.S. large-caps generated $19.8 billion in inflows and U.S. small-caps set a new monthly record of $10.5 billion. Among the various market segments, financials attracted the largest gains of $8.3 billion, followed by industrials with $4.9 billion.
Small-caps have been a big focus in recent weeks due to speculation over several policies proposed by Trump, such as calls for lower corporate taxes, protectionist policies and domestic stimulus spending, and potentially lighter regulations.
According to TrimTabs Investment Research, investors have funneled a record $97.6 billion into U.S. equity ETFs since the U.S. election through December 15, Reuters reported.
“The stampede into U.S. equity ETFs since the election has been nothing short of breathtaking,” David Santschi, chief executive officer at TrimTabs, said in a statement. “The inflow since Election Day is equal to one and a half times the inflow of $61.5 billion in all of last year. One has to wonder who’s left to buy.”
December’s inflow has almost reached $43.4 billion, or on track to outpace the record monthly inflow in November.
While fixed-income assets took a backseat to stocks, fixed-income remained on record year-to-date pace, with record monthly flows in U.S. Treasury Inflation Protected Securities-related funds of $2.4 billion while conventional government Treasuries saw $2.0 billion in outflows on prospects of higher interest rates over November.
Meanwhile, broad emerging market equities and debt funds lost $3.2 billion and $3.3 billion over November, respectively, on a strengthening U.S. dollar and protectionist rhetoric.
Commodity funds also experienced sharp outflows, notably from a $4.5 billion redemption from gold funds.
For more information on ETF flows, visit our ETF performance reports category.