The biggest story this week is a sharp reversal in US equity flows. American ETFs shed a net $24.2B in the past week, with outflows of $72B swamping $47.8B in inflows. Flow imbalance sits at just 39.9 — deep selling territory. Over three months, the US still leads all geographies with $357.5B in net inflows. That divergence is significant. What held up all quarter is now cracking.
Japan is the week's clear winner. It pulled in $10B net, with a flow imbalance of 71.4. That stands in contrast to its three-month figure of $78.2B — a trend that is accelerating rather than fading. Developed Markets Ex-US added $1.8B. Emerging Markets collected $1.7B. Both carry imbalances above 84, signalling strong buying conviction.
South Korea is a notable reversal. Over three months it attracted $39.1B net. This week it flipped negative to -$324M, with a flow imbalance of just 46.5. Hong Kong also reversed over the longer horizon, posting a $10.8B outflow over three months after weekly inflows of $898M. China remains roughly flat at -$185M for the week, despite $36.5B of three-month net inflows.
The UK continues to bleed. It lost $261M this week with a flow imbalance of just 12.1 — one of the weakest readings in the data. Over three months, UK ETFs are still negative at -$298M.
Tech is the week's biggest loser by sector. Information Technology ETFs posted -$3.8B net this week, with outflows of $11.7B against inflows of $7.9B. Flow imbalance: 40.2. Yet over three months, Tech leads all sectors with $56.1B in net inflows. That is a sharp short-term reversal of a strong trend.
Energy fell $613M this week. Over three months it lost $6.1B — one of only two sectors with sustained outflows over both timeframes. Communication Services and Consumer Staples also bled this week.
Utilities and Materials are bucking the trend. Utilities took in $264M this week with an imbalance of 83.5. Materials added $486M. Both held positive over three months too, suggesting genuine rotation into defensives and real assets.
Fixed Income claimed the top spot in asset class flows this week at $9.3B net, imbalance 61.1. That is a flip from the three-month picture where Equity dominated with $742.4B net. Commodities added $6.8B this week, also with strong imbalance at 82.7. Over three months, commodities were slightly negative at -$11.2B — another clear weekly trend shift.
Active strategies drew $6.3B this week against outflows from vanilla passive at -$10.7B. That mirrors the three-month pattern where active pulled $220B. Fundamental and equal-weight strategies also attracted net inflows both weekly and over three months, consistent with a rotation away from pure index exposure.
The overall tone is cautious. Bonds, commodities, defensives, and active management are all gaining at the expense of US passive equity and tech exposure. Risk-off signals are building at the weekly level even as three-month trend inflows remain broadly positive.
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.
