April's stats from National Bank of Canada reveal a sharp decline from the highs of the previous month
Activity for Canadian exchange-traded funds (ETFs) slowed in April from the frenzied pace of March.
A new report from National Bank of Canada reveals flows of $2 billion as investors grappled with concerns about the banking crisis and the direction of the Fed’s monetary policy.
The stats also show a shift away from equity ETFs, which had seen $3.7 billion of inflows in March, eclipsing fixed income’s $3.3 billion to drive the monthly total to a huge $7 billion.
Fixed income was firmly in favour last month with almost all of the inflows heading to the asset class ($1.96bn). Money market funds accounted for almost $1 billion and Canada government bond added $419 million.
Commodities ETFs also lost out with outflows of $23 million while multi-asset gained $286 million, inverse/levered posted inflows of $59 million, and crypto-asset added $3 million.
Equities slip back
Equity ETF inflows were focused on international stocks with $922 million of inflows, taking the year-to-date total for these funds to $1.4 billion.
But these inflows were offset by outflows for those ETFs focused on Canadian equities (-$836m) and US equities (-$349m) to leave the asset class negative to the tune of $203 million.
Overall, RBC iShares, BMO, and Vanguard were the top 3 ETF providers by flows, and there were 10 ETFs launched in April, with money market, sector, covered call and ESG the themes for these new products.
