With mud season keeping the conflict in Ukraine deadlocked and the next round of major central bank meetings still a fortnight away, investors turned their attention to taxes, corporate earnings and China’s economy during the third week of April.
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When ETF flows confound expectations
From time to time, EPFR’s clients alert us to anomalous flows into exchange traded funds (ETFs) that occur on a specific day and for a specific fund. Given our awareness of these types of flows, and the granularity of our databases, EPFR’s quant team decided it was high time they dove into our ETF database and conducted a systematic analysis of these events.
March’s pain may be April’s gain
Flows to and from EPFR-tracked fund groups during the final week of March continued to paint a picture of risk aversion and fear among investors. For the third week running liquidity funds recorded above average inflows while High Yield, Bank Loan, Emerging Markets Bond and Alternative Funds extended their current outflow streaks.
Riding the waves in liquidity funds
In the face of this uncertainty, and the unwillingness of major Western central banks to suspend the battle against inflation, investors continued to cut risk, increase their exposure to China’s rebound story and steer cash into liquidity funds.
Market insights: An in-depth analysis of emerging markets in Asia
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shifted investor sentiment towards China, India and other APAC emerging markets in 2022. Are they keeping momentum this year?
Emerging markets funds catch a wave in mid-January
Flows into EPFR-tracked Emerging Markets Equity Funds during the third week of January climbed to their highest level since mid-1Q21 as investors positioned themselves for China’s much anticipated economic rebound and, the anti-inflation rhetoric of the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank (ECB) notwithstanding, an early end to the current interest rate cycles in the US and Europe. Investors also steered $2.5 billion – a 101-week high – into Emerging Markets Bond Funds.
Energy funds in a time of war
This blog will examine the impact the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has had on global energy markets and the calls investors have made during 2022.
Off the wires: Fusion energy breakthrough by US scientists boosts clean power hopes
High energy prices have been a norm for 2022 with consistent pressure from the Russia-Ukraine conflict as it leans into the 300th day mark, while others are feeling the “need to rapidly move away from burning fossil fuels to stop average global temperature reaching dangerous levels.” Along this path, the US made a major breakthrough in the fourth quarter by producing a “net energy gain” from a fusion reaction, meaning more energy was generated than used to start the fusion process. Likewise, this process results in “no long-lived radioactive waste” and emits no carbon, a drastic climate-friendly change to the typical nuclear power plants. 2023 and the years to come will continue to be a “global race for next-generation clean technology” and energy.
Investors tip-toe into the New Year
Over $110 billion – a 131-week high – flowed into EPFR-tracked Money Market Funds during the week ending Jan. 4 as investors surveyed an investment landscape still being reshaped by inflation, tighter monetary policy and geopolitical forces.
2022: A tale of active versus passive
The final week of 2022 saw EPFR-tracked Bond Funds post consecutive weekly outflows for the first time since mid-October, capping a year when the overall group smashed its previous outflow record as central banks scrambled to contain inflation running at multi-decade highs.
Behind the headline number, however, was a marked shift from active to passive management.