ETF Assets Reach Nearly $7.6T in July  

Actively managed funds had their best month of inflows since January.

ETFs continued their streak of positive monthly inflows in July, bringing in $56 billion during the month to reach a total of $271 billion year to date. At the end of July, nearly $7.6 trillion in assets were in ETFs, according to Cerulli Associates.    

Active exchange-traded funds have grown by 16.5% year to date, according to the latest U.S. Monthly Product Trends report from Cerulli. ETFs overall had an organic growth rate of 4.2% year to date.     

As ETFs become an increasingly popular option for both retail investors and financial advisors, the asset class continues to see inflows month after month, taking market share from mutual funds.  

Net flows for mutual funds were negative in July, according to Cerulli. Active management in particular has garnered steam with investors, as fund managers try to beat traditional index funds with fund management strategies.   

Active ETF Assets 

“I think that we will continue to see flows into ETFs, across most asset classes. There's that shift from the mutual fund to the ETF and especially with the proliferation of active ETFs,” said Matt Apkarian, associate director of product development at Cerulli.    

June was an especially big month for ETF inflows. U.S. equity inflows into ETFs reached $41 billion, and then dropped back to $26 billion in July. Apkarian noted that fears of rising interest rates may have driven investor sentiment in July. “June is just a very good month for flows and drove half of US equity inflows of the year,” he said.    

The issuers that dominated summer inflows were unsurprisingly iShares and Vanguard, according to Cerulli. The two firms garnered $36 billion in July. Invesco has also been gaining steam with investors. The firm saw the fastest growth rate among ETF managers, with more than $100 billion in total net assets.     

Cerulli also noted a significant spike in sector equity ETF flows. While inflows into sector equity flows are still negative year to date, inflows jumped from $720 million in June to $8.1 billion in July. Apkarian explained that a few key funds in the financials, industrials, and equity energy sectors lead the drive. State Street was behind much of the growth.   

Contact Lucy Brewster at [email protected]