ETP assets in the US rose by USD50.2bn to USD1.19 trillion last month, accumulating an increase of 13.3% YTD after the first two months of the year, according to figures released by Deutsche Bank.
Global ETP industry assets rose to USD1.62 trillion, or 13.3% up YTD.
US ETPs experienced sturdy inflows of USD12.3bn during February, recording a strong +USD40.4bn (3.9% of last year’s AUM) on a year to date basis.
Within long-only ETPs, total flows were +USD11.6bn in Feb. vs. +USD27.0bn in January. Equity, Fixed Income, and Commodity long-only ETPs meanwhile received similar inflows of USD4.4bn, USD4.4bn, and USD3.1bn, respectively.
Overall, the flows breakdown suggest that investors are bullish about the equity market (and risk in general), but remain cautious at the same time due to the, still, fragile economic environment.
Among US equity sectors, Global and Domestic Cyclicals ETPs recorded inflows of USD2.0bn and USD1.1bn, respectively; while Defensives had outflows of USD0.5bn. In terms of size allocations, US Large Caps had USD4.4bn in outflows; however this should not be taken as an outright sign of bearish sentiment.
Within fixed income long-only ETPs, inflows continued to be strong, again tilted towards the corporate segment with flows of +USD4.6bn. Credit quality was balanced between investment grade (+USD1.6bn) and high yield (+USD2.3bn) debt.
ETFs continued to grow faster than Mutual Funds. At the end of January, ETF inflows (USD27bn) contributed 2.9% to the YTD ETF AUM growth; while only 0.4% (USD36bn) of the YTD Mutual Fund AUM growth was attributable to new cash.
There were 40 new ETFs and 8 new ETNs listed during the previous month, these represent the highest number of ETPs and ETNs listed in one single month ever.
The new products cover four different asset classes, and in most cases offer access to DM and EM countries and regions, new fixed income sectors or strategies, and inverse and leveraged exposure to commodities.
Floor activity slightly higher following historical low levels in January
Total monthly turnover increased by 4.6% to USD1.19 trillion vs. USD1.14 trillion in the previous month.
US ETP trading made up 27.1% of all US cash equity trading in February, down from both its recent peak of 37.5% last August and its 3-year monthly average of 30.6%.
The largest increase was on Equity ETP turnover, which rose by USD38bn or 3.8% to USD1.03 trillion, followed by Commodity products turnover which grew by USD12.6bn, totalling USD85bn at the end of February. Meanwhile, Fixed Income ETP turnover rose by USD2.2bn to USD69bn last month.
