Lackluster summer for Canadian ETFs

It was a slow summer for ETFs in Canada.

So says a report by National Bank’s Pat Chiefalo, along with research associates Daniel Straus and Ling Zhang. The team found $318 million flowed out of funds this past August.

That’s because “demand in the equity space remains for U.S. and now international developed equity through EAFE [Europe, Australia and Far East] funds.”

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Further, the data suggests there are “weak Canadian equity flows and withdrawals from rate-sensitive bond ETFs.” In fact, fixed-income funds shrank by $400 million in August. Read more.

In the U.S., there were ETF outflows of $18 billion in August, meaning the market gave back some of the strong ETF flows from July, according to the team’s American ETF report.

They add the fixed-income ETF sector “lost $7 billion in assets. Bonds in broad- and mid-maturities [were] heaviest hit. In the win column was Europe and EAFE, tech and healthcare equity [funds], along with short and floating bonds.”

In particular, “bonds gave back all of July’s $4 billion inflow and more this month. Commodities seem to have leveled off and were flat in the month…Levered and inverse funds saw more than $1 billion [of] inflows.” Read more.

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