While the markets continued to experience wild swings, investors continued to throw more money into exchange traded fund, revealing their continued preference for low-cost index-based strategies, regardless of the trading environment.
According to State Street Global Advisors, U.S.-listed ETFs attracted $44 billion of inflows over November, bringing 2018’s total fund inflows to $260 billion ahead of the last month of the year.
Equity ETFs experienced the most action of any category in November, attracting the lion’s share with $30 billion, compared to the category’s five-year monthly average of $19 billion.
Among the various stock plays, Health Care ETFs attracted the most assets with $1.8B in new inflows, the most of any sector category in November, and saw inflows for the third consecutive month. Defense was a major theme as the defensive sector Consumer Staples took in almost $1 billion for the month as well.
Taking a step back, a rotation toward value strategies was also a prominent theme in November, with Value ETFs seeing $5 billion of new inflows compared to just $1.4 billion for growth-oriented exposures.
“Sector flows depict further defensive posturing by investors as we head into a yearend littered with concerns over future growth,” Matthew Bartolini, CFA Head of SPDR Americas Research State Street Global Advisors, said in a note.
Bond ETFs did not sit out on the party. After posting outflows for the first time in 38 months over October, fixed income ETFs regained their footing in November, bringing in over $13 billion, which ranks as the category’s 6th highest monthly total on record.
The broader fund industry, though, is not having it as good. U.S. equity funds experienced $3.5 billion in outflows for the week ended Wednesday, the largest exodus since the week ending Oct. 17, CNBC reports. Nevertheless, investors added another $1.5 billion to Treasury funds due to the elevated market volatility and rising demand for safe haven assets.
For more information on the ETF industry, visit our ETF performance reports category.