The August data from LSEG Lipper shows that the global ETF industry held USD10,547.4 billion in assets under management on August 31, 2023. The firm writes that the global ETF industry enjoyed overall estimated inflows (+USD39.4 billion) for August 2023.
• North America was the region with highest estimated inflows (+USD16.6 billion) for the month.
• Equity ETFs (+USD23.2 billion) enjoyed the highest estimated net inflows over the course of August 2023.
• Bond USD Government Short Term (+USD7.8 billion) was the best-selling Lipper Global Classification for the month.
• Vanguard was by far the best-selling ETF promoter globally (+USD18.1 billion) for August 2023.
Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA Research at LSEG Lipper, comments: “It was not surprising to see that ETFs enjoyed overall inflows on a global basis over the course of August 2023. Nevertheless, these inflows occurred in an unstable market environment in which some asset classes showed positive results, while others performed negatively. The market sentiment was driven by hopes that central banks—especially the U.S. Federal Reserve—may have reached the last phase of their fight against high inflation rates and may, therefore, start to keep interest rates at least stable quite soon.
“Some investors already expect that there might be room for decreasing interest rates later this year, but these expectations might be too positive given the hawkish statements from the Fed and other central banks such as the European Central Bank (ECB).
“In addition, there are still concerns about the war in Ukraine and other geopolitical tensions. Investors are also concerned about the normalisation of the disrupted delivery chains. Even as China seems to be back on track after reopening of the economy, there are still some frictions, especially in the real estate sector, in the system.
“Additionally, market participants are still concerned about a possible recession in the U.S. and other major economies around the globe. These fears are raised by long-term (12 month+) inverted yield curves which are seen as an early indicator for an upcoming recession.”
