European ETPs see strongest year-to-date inflows since 2008

European equity exchange-traded products have enjoyed their strongest inflows year-to-date since the financial crisis, a BlackRock study has revealed.

European ETPs see strongest year-to-date inflows since 2008

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The BlackRock ETP Landscape report, published 11 August, showed that in the seven months to 30 July, Europe-listed European equity trackers saw $25.3bn (£16.2bn) of inflows – up 41.3% on the previous July YTD record set in 2008.

Furthermore, European equity ETP space AUM rising by $4.8bn and $7.9bn in the region as whole for July contributed to global ETP inflows of $36.6bn in the same period, the biggest monthly total since February.

“The renewed interest in June and July signals in our view a ‘buy-on-dip’ approach taken by European investors towards their domestic equity market,” said Ursula Marchioni, BlackRock’s head of ETP research.

“Given the strong Q2 earnings season and the double digit earnings growth matched by strong top-line growth from European companies, we expect this theme to continue into the coming months.”

Of this aggregate, the US market accounted for the majority, with US large caps and US treasuries seeing inflows of $9.2bn and $3.7bn.

Pan-European equity brought in $6.6bn as the Greece situation abated, while currency-hedged and smart beta equity products continued their rapid growth trajectory with respective inflows of $3.5bn and $1.6bn.

Marchioni added: “Global ETP buying and trading levels were strong in July, despite the summer period in the US and Europe typically being quiet. The overall market for ETPs is on course to grow by more than it did in 2014, and fixed income ETPs are particularly benefiting from increased investor interest.”

At the other end of the spectrum, Chinese equity ETPs saw July outflows of $2bn despite having brought in $8bn in the first week of the month, while $2.7bn was redeemed from emerging markets equity products – its third-consecutive monthly drop.

As of 31 July, global ETP assets stood at $2.98tn, having grown from just $79bn 15 years earlier.

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