Fixed income is the standout story this week. ETFs tracking bonds pulled in $28.6B in net new money over seven days. That compares to $259B over three months — a pace that has accelerated sharply. The flow imbalance sits at 76.6, signalling strong and consistent buying pressure rather than a two-way tug-of-war.
Equity ETFs remain the largest bucket by volume. They attracted $34.9B in net flows last week. But with a flow imbalance of just 58.5, the buying is not one-sided. Sellers are active too. Commodities added $3.3B on a flow imbalance of 81.8, pointing to sustained demand rather than short-term noise.
The US remains the dominant destination. American equity ETFs took in $23.8B last week, far ahead of every other region. Global ETFs added $3.1B. Taiwan drew $1.4B with a striking flow imbalance of 87.3 — almost all buy-side activity and almost no selling.
The notable reversal is India. It posted an outflow of $222M this week with a flow imbalance of just 2.9 — near-total selling dominance. Over three months, India has been a modest receiver of capital. That shift deserves attention. Germany also bled $143M this week and has lost $1.1B over three months. China, by contrast, looks balanced: it attracted $374M last week but a massive $43.6B over three months, making it the third-largest geography by 3-month flows.
Information Technology leads all sectors with $2.2B of inflows last week. Consumer Discretionary added $944M, and Industrials followed at $894M. Financials took in $768M.
The key reversal: Materials flipped to a $308M outflow this week. Over three months, Materials attracted $1.4B — so the 1-week swing is a meaningful break in trend. Energy is also leaking money. It posted a $26M outflow this week and has shed $3.9B over three months, making it the worst-performing sector by 3-month net flows.
Communication Services is another quiet loser over three months, down $715M over the period, despite posting a positive $381M week.
Both bonds and equities are attracting capital simultaneously. That is a risk-on and risk-off signal running in parallel. Active ETFs are winning share over the longer period. They gathered $129B over three months versus just $2.3B in passive Vanilla over the same relative basis — though Vanilla dominates by raw size.
This week, Growth and Value strategies are both drawing strong inflows — $4.1B and $3.3B respectively. Dividend ETFs attracted $1.7B. That combination suggests investors are not committed to a single style.
The overall tone is broadly risk-on. Equities and bonds are both attracting capital, cyclical sectors like Industrials and Financials are gaining, and defensive plays like India and Energy are losing ground.
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.
