The single biggest story this week is Japan. ETFs targeting Japanese equities pulled in $12.2B net over the past seven days. The flow imbalance hit 84.6 — deep in buying-pressure territory. Over three months, Japan attracted $71B. That makes it the most consistent geographic conviction trade right now, behind the U.S. itself.
The U.S. remains the anchor. American-focused ETFs drew $34.6B in net flows this week. The flow imbalance stood at 67.8. Over three months, U.S. ETFs gathered $388.6B. The buying pressure is steady but not extreme — gross outflows of $1.01T over 3m show active two-way trading rather than a one-directional rush.
South Korea is the week's sharpest reversal. It registered a $692M net outflow this week, with a flow imbalance of just 40.8. Yet over three months, South Korea attracted $38.7B. That is a notable short-term shift against an otherwise strong trend. China remains mixed — $1.3B net in this week, but a flow imbalance of only 54.2, reflecting heavy two-way activity. Over 3m, China pulled in $30.1B. Hong Kong is bleeding. It saw a $12.6B net outflow over three months, with a 3m flow imbalance of 33.0 — one of the clearest institutional exits in the data. Brazil flipped negative over three months at -$1.6B, after printing a modest positive week.
Financials took the week's hardest sector hit. Net outflows reached $2.4B, with a flow imbalance of just 20.1 — heavy selling pressure. That contrast is stark against a 3m net inflow of $3.8B. Money appears to be rotating out of financials in the near term. Information Technology absorbed $1.8B in net inflows this week. Over three months, Tech leads all sectors by a wide margin at $58.7B. Energy switched direction. It posted $321M net inflows this week, but suffered $6.1B in net outflows over three months. Industrials stayed positive across both periods — $131M this week and $5.3B over 3m — showing quiet, consistent accumulation.
Equity was the dominant asset class this week at $61.9B net inflows, with a flow imbalance of 68.6. Fixed Income added $15.7B. Commodities attracted $6.6B this week — a sharp contrast to its 3m position of -$23.8B in net outflows. That reversal is significant. Currencies saw $2.5B inflows this week but are -$2.8B over three months.
On strategy, Vanilla passive flows dominated at $41.8B. Active strategies drew $13B this week and $221.6B over three months — the strongest 3m active flow share in the data. Value strategies remain effectively flat in both periods.
Overall, the tone is risk-on. Equity dominates, active management is gaining share, and the commodity bounce adds a tactical twist to what is otherwise a broad equities story.
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.
