Active ETFs pulled in $14.2B over the past week. That is the single largest strategy inflow by a wide margin. It reflects a sharp pivot from passive benchmarking toward manager-selected exposure. Over three months, active funds gathered $131.5B — a strong sustained trend. The case for paying up for active management is clearly gaining ground.
Japan attracted $5.8B in net inflows last week. Flow imbalance hit 78, signalling strong buying pressure. Over three months, Japan has been the second-biggest geography by net flow at $303B — the trend is consistent and accelerating. Global broad-market ETFs added $5.4B this week alone.
The stark contrast is China. It shed $4.8B last week. Over three months, the outflow from China reaches $42.9B. Flow imbalance sits at just 27 this week — deep selling territory. South Korea also saw $2.4B exit. Both represent a clear rotation away from North Asian risk.
Developed Markets ex-U.S. held a flow imbalance of 89 this week. That signals near-unanimous buying pressure on international developed exposure.
Information Technology suffered the largest sector outflow last week at $2.9B. The imbalance reading of 43 confirms net selling pressure. Yet over three months, Tech has attracted $90.9B in net inflows. This week's reversal is a short-term break in a longer bull trend — not a structural exit.
Energy was the week's top sector winner at $1.9B net inflow. Industrials added $624M. Both sectors showed flow imbalances above 63. Health Care and Consumer Discretionary both lost over $840M each this week, consistent with their negative 3-month trends.
Real Estate quietly picked up $440M this week. Over three months, it has drawn $2.6B in net positive flows.
Equities led all asset classes with $17.4B net inflow this week. Fixed Income was close behind at $13B. Both categories showed buying pressure above 55. This is a broad risk-on signal with bonds added as ballast rather than a refuge trade.
The notable divergence is commodities. They pulled in $1.6B this week. But over three months, commodities saw a $77.2B net outflow — one of the clearest trend reversals in the data. This week's buying could be early-stage repositioning or a tactical bounce.
Currency ETFs gathered $2.2B with an imbalance of 89 — pointing to active hedging demand alongside equity positioning.
Over three months, Growth strategy ETFs gathered $326B — by far the largest strategy flow. But this week, Growth lost $247M. That short-term reversal is the biggest strategy divergence in the data set.
ESG continued to bleed. It lost $281M this week and $12.5B over three months. Investors are clearly unwinding ESG mandates.
The overall tone is cautiously risk-on. Equities and bonds are both attracting money. Active management is winning share. But China, Tech, and ESG remain out of favour.
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.
