Japan ETFs suffered the biggest single-week geography outflow on record — $69B left in seven days. That reversed a three-month trend completely. Over the prior 3 months, Japan had attracted $62B in net inflows. The weekly flow imbalance crashed to just 14.8, deep in selling territory.
China also saw heavy redemptions this week. Investors pulled $8.3B, pushing the weekly imbalance to 22.2. Over three months, China was a destination. Net inflows totalled $21.7B across that period.
US-focused ETFs held up comparatively well. Net inflows came in at $4.6B for the week, with a balanced imbalance of 51.9. Over three months, the US led all geographies with $354B in cumulative net inflows. Global and Emerging Markets ETFs also attracted money this week — $4.7B and $2.1B respectively. Emerging Markets posted a strong imbalance score of 88.1, indicating dominant buying pressure. South Korea drew $1.2B this week and $40.9B over three months, one of the strongest sustained regional bets. Developed Europe pulled in $668M this week, but sits in net outflow territory over three months at -$765M.
Technology had the worst week of any sector. Outflows totalled $3.3B. Yet over three months, Tech was the runaway winner — $72B in net inflows. That divergence is stark. It suggests recent profit-taking after a prolonged bull run into the space.
Materials flipped to the other side. $2.1B flowed in this week, the best sector performance over seven days, with a flow imbalance of 85.3. Over three months, Materials attracted just $2.2B — so this week's move is proportionally very large.
Energy saw a small positive week ($218M) but remains the worst-performing sector over three months at -$6.4B outflow. Financials and Health Care both bled modestly this week. Real Estate and Industrials were roughly flat on the week but held positive 3m positions.
The biggest asset class story is equities versus bonds. Equity ETFs bled $59.3B this week, despite attracting $706B over three months. Fixed Income took in $15.7B on the week, with a healthy imbalance of 69.4. Over three months, Fixed Income also drew $245B. Both the weekly and quarterly numbers point to sustained bond buying running alongside the equity bull market. Commodities added $5.5B this week — a reversal from the 3m trend of -$28.7B outflow.
On strategy, active management continued to attract capital. $8B flowed into active ETFs this week. Over three months, active funds absorbed $221B, second only to vanilla passive strategies at $330B. Vanilla passive saw $81.9B in outflows this week, pointing to rotation away from plain-index products in the short term. Value strategies gained $1.4B this week, while Growth was marginally negative.
The overall tone is cautious. Money is rotating from risk-on equity into bonds, commodities, and active management, with Japan's dramatic reversal the clearest sign that last week's positioning was defensive.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
