Institutions are dumping stocks in all sectors, but materials and utilities, while retail investors shed stocks all across the board.
“There is a feeling that the bull market is running out of steam. There’s a misunderstanding that bull markets die of old age. They don’t, but that’s clearly part of the psychology,” Hogan said. Also, “that abrupt sell-off we saw in December still has reverberations in the marketplace. The short-term muscle memory of how quickly things collapsed is still there, even though some of the things that caused it have reversed.”
In the ETF space specifically, a large number of inflows are going into emerging markets. Emerging markets combined have netted $12.8 billion when looking at the top ten year-to-date inflows with the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: IEMG) leading the pack–$4.8 billion in YTD inflows.
According to some analysts, however, the sudden allocation of capital into EM doesn’t mean investors should deep-dive into the space without knowing the risks. In effect, it shouldn’t supplant the traditional safe havens, such as bonds or commodities, but be part of a larger diversification strategy.
“We’re making our investors aware that the emerging-markets trade is a pretty popular trade, and you’ve seen a lot of money pour into it,” said Christopher Stanton, chief investment officer at Sunrise Capital Partners. “It may not have the same level of outperformance that you’ve seen.”
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.