Asia Surge Breaks US Money Monopoly

US equity ETFs still lead in raw dollar terms. But the past week signals a major geographic shift. Asian markets are pulling capital at a pace that stands out sharply against the three-month trend.

Geography: Asia Breaks Through

The US attracted $24.7B in net ETF inflows over the past week. That sounds large. But Japan added $13.8B and China pulled in $12.9B — together nearly matching the US. Taiwan drew another $5.9B, with a flow imbalance of 96.4. That means almost all trading in Taiwan ETFs is buying pressure.

Over three months, the US remains dominant at $358.6B net. Japan's three-month total is $160.9B. China's three-month figure is only $18.9B — a fraction of its weekly run rate. That gap tells the story: money is accelerating into China right now, not retreating. The three-month trend was cautious. The one-week picture is aggressive.

Hong Kong stands out as the clearest loser. It shed $1.8B this week. Over three months it has lost $9.7B. The outflow is persistent and deepening. India also bled $434M this week, with a flow imbalance of just 7.8 — near total selling pressure.

Sector Rotation: Tech Still King, Energy Fading

Information Technology pulled $11B in net inflows this week. That matches its three-month dominance, where it leads all sectors at $77.1B. Tech's flow imbalance sits at 67.8 this week, slightly below the 3m average — still strong buying, but less one-sided.

Energy is bleeding. It lost $463M this week. Over three months it has shed $5.2B. The flow imbalance of 37.5 this week confirms sellers are in control. Financials brought in $1.2B this week but look weak on a three-month view — only $3.6B net over 90 days versus $34.3B in gross inflows, showing heavy two-way churn.

Real Estate quietly collected $617M this week and $6.5B over three months. It is one of the more consistent sector flows in the data.

Asset Class and Strategy: Equities Dominate, Active Rises

Equities absorbed $76.7B in net flows this week. Fixed income added $11.9B. Commodities scraped together just $509M. Over three months, commodities are a clear loser — down $30.5B net, with a flow imbalance of 38.4. Investors are not buying the commodity story.

Vanilla passive strategies led with $55.6B this week. Active ETFs added $8.1B, with a three-month total of $231.1B — representing 52.8% of passive flows despite a fraction of the fund count. That ratio has been climbing. Dividend strategies posted a flow imbalance of 94.7 this week. ESG reversed: it bled funds this week but was positive over three months, suggesting recent momentum is fading.

The week's overall tone is risk-on. Capital is moving into equities, leaning toward Asia, and rotating out of energy and commodities.