U.S. Equity ETFs Gain Most Money In November

U.S. equity exchange traded funds (ETFs) had their best month in 2015 in November, gathering $21.4 billion thanks to a more positive economic outlook.

U.S. third quarter real GDP growth was revised upwards to 2.1 percent due to inventories and durable goods orders beating expectations, according to BlackRock's most recent Landscape report. Within the $21.4 billion, large cap funds made most of the flows and small caps gathered $3.4 billion. Of the total, $3.9 billion went into sector funds, with technology and financials the most popular.

Global ETPs brought in $28.2 billion last month, while emerging markets and Treasury funds continued to bleed in the face of the Federal Reserve likely raising interest rates this month.

"In November, flows were mostly driven – once again – by central banks' diverging policies," said Ursula Marchioni, chief strategiest, EMEA, iShares. "As the month progressed, the US Federal Reserve looked increasingly likely to lift rates at their December meeting, and markets expected the European Central Bank to add to their stimulus program.  As a result, we saw strong flows into U.S. and developed equity funds, while U.S. treasuries were out of favour."

The analysis looked at 5,822 ETPs with close to $3 trillion in assets. Overall ETP flows are at $302.4 billion year to date, within sight of last year's full-year record of over $345 billion. This compares to just $79 billion back in 2000.