Edited by Peter Hillerberg2 min readStories are generated from ORTEX data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. How we publish
US equities drew the largest single inflow of the week. $33.6B in net new money poured into US-focused ETFs over the past seven days, pushing the flow imbalance to 66.2. That is the clearest signal of where institutional cash is still going.
The bigger story, though, is Asia. China pulled in $10.3B on a flow imbalance of 76.5. Taiwan added $5.3B with an imbalance of 95.9, meaning almost no money left. These are not trickle flows. Over three months, China accumulated $16.9B and Taiwan $15.0B, confirming that the weekly prints are part of a durable allocation shift, not a one-week bounce.
Developed Europe turned negative over the week, shedding $900M net. That flips the three-month picture, where Europe had collected $7.4B. The reversal is sharp. Selling pressure there (flow imbalance 36.2) stands in direct contrast to the buying appetite across Asia-Pacific. Brazil registered $2.0B of net inflows on a near-perfect imbalance of 97.8, one of the cleanest demand signals in the dataset. India was the main laggard, recording outflows again weekly and continuing its three-month net negative position of $1.2B. The ORTEX Alt Data shows Malaysian battery-electric car registrations rose 69% year on year in September, and Malaysia recorded its largest September for total new car registrations since 2017. ETF-level flows into the region are modest, but the consumer signals in the real economy are pointing in the same direction as the broader Asian inflow trend.
Technology absorbed $9.4B in net flows over the week, the biggest sector number by a wide margin. Yet the three-month picture is almost flat at $2.0B, with inflows and outflows nearly cancelling out. Investors are piling back into tech after a quarter of indecision. Financials showed the sharpest contrast. $2.5B left the sector in the past week on a flow imbalance of just 19.3. Over three months, Financials have lost $10.5B net, making it the worst-performing sector by that measure. Industrials also saw $1.5B of net outflows on the week. Healthcare attracted $642M weekly and has run $2.9B net positive over three months. Energy drew $494M this week and $2.3B over the quarter.
Equity ETFs collected $68.6B in net new money over the week. Fixed income added $15.1B. Commodities pulled in $2.1B. This stacking of equities, bonds and commodities together points to broad risk appetite rather than a defensive shift. Currency ETFs bled $338M.
On strategy, vanilla passive vehicles led with $49.2B of weekly net inflows. Growth strategies took in $3.3B with an imbalance of 83.1 and Value added $2.0B. ESG shed $498M on the week, a notable reversal from its $9.5B positive three-month reading. That is the clearest strategy-level trend shift in this week's data. Active strategies continued to gather assets, pulling in $4.3B on the week and $167B over three months, one of the strongest multi-month active flows in the dataset. Low volatility strategies bled $262M, consistent with a market that is moving toward risk rather than away from it.
The overall tone is risk-on. Money is moving into equities, technology and growth, while financials and low-volatility strategies lose ground.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data and reviewed by the ORTEX team. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
