The past week's ETF flows told a clear story. The US attracted $22.5B in net inflows, making it the dominant geography by far. Japan added $5.2B. Meanwhile, China bled $5.9B — the sharpest single-country outflow of the week.
The US dominance is striking but not new. Over three months, US-focused ETFs pulled in $337B net. The pace held firmly this week. Japan's weekly $5.2B inflow (flow imbalance: 63) looks consistent with its $64B three-month trend. The real story is China. Three months of positive $31B net flows have abruptly reversed. This week saw $5.9B leave, with a flow imbalance of just 22.5 — deep selling territory. Taiwan also flipped, shedding $668M this week after attracting $23.7B over three months. Brazil added to the pain with another $486M outflow. Developed Markets Ex-US held steady. Flows into Canada ($1.1B), Developed Europe ($1.0B), and Global Ex-US ($996M) all remained positive and balanced, though modest.
Technology kept its top billing, pulling in $1.1B net this week. That continues the three-month pattern of $53.3B into the sector. But the week's texture was mixed. Financials shed $1.0B and Industrials lost $645M — both sectors that showed solid three-month inflows of $3.0B and $3.6B respectively. That is a notable short-term reversal. Health Care was the standout bright spot. It attracted $344M this week and $7.3B over three months, showing the most consistent buying pressure across both timeframes. Utilities added $114M this week. Energy stayed mildly positive at $137M, despite posting a $5.4B three-month outflow — a potential sign the bleeding is slowing.
Equities remain king. They pulled in $33.7B this week and $702B over three months. Fixed income ran a steady second at $11.6B for the week and $227B over three months — consistent buying that signals investors want both growth and yield. Commodities showed a sharp divergence. Over three months, commodity ETFs posted a $6.9B net outflow. This week flipped to $4.0B inflows, the biggest weekly reversal of any asset class. That is worth watching. On strategy, vanilla passive funds led with $26.2B. Active ETFs contributed $5.2B — a strong week consistent with their $206B three-month haul. Price-weighted strategies bled $5.1B this week after modest three-month gains, a clear single-week anomaly. Value ETFs added $1.8B. ESG pulled in $1.7B.
Overall, the risk-on signal is intact: equities and bonds both attracting capital, commodities potentially bottoming, and the US remaining the preferred destination — but China's reversal introduces the week's clearest note of caution.
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.
