The headline story this week is simple: investors are piling back into the United States. US-focused ETFs pulled in a net $145B in just seven days. That dwarfs every other geography combined. The flow imbalance hit 85.8 — well into strong buying pressure territory.
The three-month trend confirms this is no blip. US ETFs have absorbed $669B over the past quarter. That is the largest regional haul by a factor of more than four. Japan comes second at $307B over three months, but pulled in just $8.8B this week — a sharp slowdown suggesting the yen-driven enthusiasm is cooling.
Emerging markets are the week's biggest loser. Net outflows hit $38.9B in seven days, with a flow imbalance of just 1.3. Money is leaving fast and barely trickling back in. Over three months, EM is down $18.1B — painful, but the weekly pace is accelerating sharply. China alone bled $6.1B this week, adding to a $36.5B three-month outflow.
India flipped negative over three months at -$1.2B, despite seeing a small $139M inflow this week. That reversal is worth watching. Japan saw strong three-month inflows of $307B but weekly momentum is fading. Developed Markets Ex-US held up well, posting $362M this week against a solid $25.2B over three months.
Technology led all sectors with $2.5B in net inflows this week. Industrials came second at $876M. Both sectors show a buying imbalance above 65, pointing to consistent institutional demand.
The trend shift to watch is in Financials. Over three months, Financials bled $11.3B — one of the worst sector outflows in that window. This week they managed just $135M. The selling pressure has stalled, but conviction for a real reversal is not yet there.
Health Care and Materials are both in outflow this week and over three months. Health Care lost $525M this week. Materials dropped $606M. Neither sector is attracting meaningful capital right now.
Communication Services flipped: it was negative over three months at -$660M, but posted $192M inflows this week. A tentative sign of buyers returning.
Equities dominated across both timeframes. This week saw $115B flow into equity ETFs against just $10.7B into fixed income. Over three months, equity inflows reached $1.16T versus $189B for bonds. The risk-on posture is clear and consistent.
Commodities are the asset class to avoid. They bled $791M this week and a massive $78.6B over three months. Currency ETFs also saw outflows on both timeframes.
On strategy, Growth ETFs stood out sharply. They pulled in $94.7B this week with a flow imbalance of 98.4 — near-total buying dominance. Over three months, Growth attracted $327B. Active strategies also gained ground, up $2.2B this week and $127B over three months.
ESG reversed hard. It managed a small $255M gain this week, but over three months it is deep in the red at -$12.9B. Passive vanilla strategies remain the backbone of flows, but Growth is clearly where the conviction sits right now.
The overall tone is firmly risk-on: money is flowing into US equities, growth strategies, and tech — and leaving commodities, emerging markets, and health care behind.
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.
