The ETF industry finished 2011 with assets of about $1.06 trillion according to data recently released by the ETF Industry Association. Total assets grew by about 5% over the previous year, when the industry stood at $1.01 trillion. Net cash inflows for the year totaled about $117.6 billion, a slight decrease from 2010 when the industry took in $118.7 billion. In 2009, total ETF inflows tallied about $119.4 billion, meaning that creations have been remarkably consistent over the last three years. December was one of the best months of the year from a cash inflows perspective; approximately $16.2 billion, or about 14% of the annual total, came in during the final month of the year.
U.S. equity ETFs accounted for about $41.3 billion in inflows, or approximately 35% of the industry total. But the real growth came in the fixed income arena; bond ETF assets grew from about $129 billion last year to nearly $180 billion at the end of 2011. That means bond ETF assets grew by about 38% last year, far outpacing the overall industry growth and dwarfing the 7% growth in domestic equity ETF assets. Bond ETFs saw net inflows last year of about $45 billion, representing about 38% of the industry’s total [for more ETF insights, sign up for the free ETFdb newsletter]. [click to continue…]
As the calendars prepare to flip forward, it appears as if 2011 will go down as a record-breaking year for the ETF industry on the product development front. More than 300 new ETPs began trading this year, shattering the previous record set in 2010. But despite the record size of the ETF lineup, it appears [...]
Equity markets have taken a wild ride this past year as everything from an unimaginable earthquake in Japan to a looming debt crisis in Europe has taken its toll on investors’ confidence. As 2011 draws to a close, many are left scratching their heads in confusion and uncertainty, given the predominantly gloomy economic outlook that [...]
Investors’ confidence has taken a serious beating over the past few months as debt drama on both sides of the Atlantic ocean has paved the way for volatile price action across financial markets. Despite better-than-expected economic data releases on the home front, Euro zone debt woes have definitively taken center stage; sentiment on Wall Street [...]
This past year has been a strong one for the ETF industry. With a record number of launches, already over 300 on the year, it is clear that the exchange traded world is still in full swing. But despite all of the innovation that the year has seen, investors are still partial to their big [...]
[This article is a free preview of the special ETF research report Dividend ETFs In Focus: Finding The Best Yield . ETFdb Pro members can read the entire report here; sign up for a free 7-day trial to get your copy] Dividend investing is one of the oldest and most popular strategies amongst retail and institutional equity investors on Wall [...]
[This article is a free preview of the special ETF research report Dividend ETFs In Focus: Finding The Best Yield. ETFdb Pro members can read the entire report here; sign up for a free 7-day trial to get your copy] In the current environment, it seems as if most investment strategies have fallen out of [...]
As the ETF industry has expanded rapidly in recent years, the universe of asset classes and investment strategies accessible through the exchange-traded wrapper has increased dramatically. In addition to funds offering exposure to natural resources and volatility–two asset classes previously beyond the reach of many investors–a number of products have popped up that seek to [...]
Grim jobs data on Friday put stocks in a hole right from the opening bell as investors were quite displeased to see that the U.S. economy did not add any jobs in August. Nonfarm payrolls were unchanged for the month, posting the weakest performance in labor payroll data since September of 2010. Unemployment is sitting [...]
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is, after an extremely shaky summer period, back in positive territory for the year. Equity markets have gotten off to a strong start this week, opening above last Friday’s close on Monday and pushing higher through Wednesday. As talked about in previous editions of ETF Insider, the S&P 500 has [...]
Equity markets were dangerously volatile last week, extending the ongoing theme of “uncertainty” for yet another week. Domestic equity indexes are largely stuck in “no man’s land”, and until there is some consistent price action above key support levels (above 1,200 for S&P 500), we recommend for most investors to stay on the sidelines. Even [...]
