Money Flows Into Asia and Tech as Europe Stumbles

China pulled in $13.7B in a single week. That is the standout number in this week's ETF flow data. Taiwan added $6.8B with a flow imbalance of 97, meaning almost every dollar moving was a buy. Together, Asia's two chip-heavy markets are absorbing more fresh money than the rest of the world outside the US combined.

The US itself took in $29.3B on the week, holding a flow imbalance of 66. That signals a healthy but not frenzied pace of buying. Over three months, the US has gathered $276B, far ahead of any other single geography.

Geography Flows

The sharpest one-week reversal is in Developed Europe, which saw $952M leave after drawing $7.4B over three months. Spain and Mexico posted near-zero flow imbalance scores of 0.4 and 9.5 respectively, signalling active selling pressure. The UK edged into positive territory with a $56M weekly inflow, but over three months it is underwater by $233M. Japan is the most notable trend flip: it attracted $1.9B this week, yet has shed $7.6B over three months as domestic investors rotated out. The one-week rebound could be opportunistic buying after a prolonged drawdown.

Brazil continued its steady run, adding $1.6B this week on top of $5.6B over three months. Canadian total bank assets hit a record CAD 20.0 trillion in August 2026, according to ORTEX Alt Data, which may partly explain why Canada pulled in $1.3B this week.

Sector Rotation

Information Technology was the week's biggest sector winner with $7.6B of net inflows and a flow imbalance of 68. Over three months the number shrinks to $2.4B, suggesting this week's push is sharper than the trend. TSLA reports on 21 October, and ORTEX Alt Data shows German electric car registrations running 269% above the same quarter last year, a dataset that leads Tesla revenue by 43 days with a strong measured fit.

Financials bled $2.4B this week. The three-month picture is worse: $10.5B of net outflows, the largest sector drain in the data. Industrials also lost $814M on the week after three months of $3.1B outflows, suggesting the selling is sustained rather than episodic.

Health Care took in $677M this week and $3.0B over three months, with Real Estate and Utilities adding smaller but consistent inflows across both windows. Energy drew $362M this week and $2.3B over three months.

Asset Class and Strategy

Equities led all asset classes with $68.9B of weekly net inflows. Fixed Income added $16.0B. That gap has widened: over three months equities are up $505B, fixed income $300B. Commodities pulled $2.1B this week, consistent with the $31.9B three-month trend. The currency asset class was the only negative on the week, shedding $624M.

On strategy, passive vanilla funds took in $48.5B this week. Active strategies added $4.0B, continuing a three-month run of $168B, the strongest active inflow on record in this dataset. Growth ETFs drew $3.4B this week versus $1.97B into value. Over three months the gap narrows, with value pulling $8.8B against growth's $13.2B, suggesting value regained some ground earlier in the quarter.

ESG reversed a three-month positive trend of $9.7B, posting $519M of outflows this week with a flow imbalance of just 42. Momentum strategies were also weak on the week and have now shed $3.4B over three months.

The overall tone is risk-on, with capital moving into equities, tech, and growth, while Financials, Europe, and ESG face selling pressure.