BlackRock ETPs Have Best Month of 2023

BlackRock, the largest ETF issuer, saw inflows into exchange-traded products reach $98.3 billion in June as investors rushed to participate in the stock market rally that unfolded in the first half of the year.  

June’s inflow was the highest of any month in 2023, and a notable 26% increase over May, when investors bought $78 billion of the firm’s global exchange-traded products.  

U.S. vehicles were driving the rush to equities as they saw their largest monthly inflow—$45.2 billion—since October 2022. Investors piled in on a stock market rally that made the first half of 2023 the Nasdaq’s best since 1983. 

The influx in June also made the past six months particularly hot for BlackRock. Overall, flows for the first half of the year totaled $375.9 billion, which is up 24 % since the same period last year. While equities outpaced fixed income, the first half of the year was a record-breaking half for flows into EMEA-listed fixed income ETFs, as they reached $165.4 billion.  

“The biggest takeaway for me, looking at June, is the record that we saw being hit by the ETF industry in fixed income in EMEA,” Karim Chedid, head of investment strategy at iShares, EMEA, told etf.com. “I wouldn't say that's a huge surprise, because it’s well signposted by investors buying more fixed income exposures because they attracted to those higher yields.”   

As inflation finally cools and the labor market remains tight, recession fears may have somewhat dispersed. Investor sentiment drove the tech-focused Nasdaq composite up 32% and the S&P 500 up about 16% in the first half of 2023. The iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV) saw a net flow of $4,349 for the month of June. 

As international investors looked toward the U.S., they pulled out of European ETPs. European equities saw their highest monthly outflows since August 2022, losing $4.6 billion. Withdrawals from U.S.-listed European equity ETFs were 48% of total European equity outflows in June.  

“On the equity side, what's taken me by surprise is that finally we're starting to see the pace of buying European equities flip to outflows, because European equities were pretty popular earlier in the year,” Chedid said. 

Contact Lucy Brewster at lucy.brewster.com