DAX and S&P ETFs Benefit in August. Deutsche Bank – Synthetic Equity & Index Strategy – Europe. Europe Monthly ETF Market Review – DAX and S&P ETFs Benefit in August
August European ETP Highlights
As of the end of August 2014, global ETP assets approached $2.56 trillion rising by $295bn (+13%) year-to-date. In August, European ETPs had another month with healthy inflows registering +€6.1bn of cash inflows (+€8bn in the prev. month). Equity and fixed income ETFs were the major contributors of inflows receiving +€3.8bn and +€2.2bn respectively. ETPs tracking commodities experienced negligible net outflows in August.
2014 has seen record inflows in Europe, surpassing growth in US
Our review of year-to-date flows indicate that the European ETP market has received record inflows in 2014 surpassing most of the full year flows observed in recent years. The +€37bn of net inflow observed this year represents a 12% growth in assets versus 6% observed in the US. Based on trends observed in recent years, where the period between September and December has experienced significant inflows, we see potential of further growth in the European ETPs this year. Further, it is also worth noting that the European ETF turnover as a percentage of the region’s cash equities turnover, increased to 8.5% (from 7.4% in Jul’14) as of the end of August 2014.
Buying of DAX ETFs as market hits YTD lows in August
The standout recipient of ETF investment within European equity markets was the DAX. We observed over +€800m of net inflows into DAX based products in August despite the sell-off in German equities in early August. The market weakness was likely attributed to the geopolitical situation in the region. ETF investors used this opportunity to buy in the dips potentially in anticipation of further monetary easing by the ECB (announcement on Sep 4th).
New equal weight S&P ETF launched by db x-Trackers, European cost competitive S&P 500 ETFs continue to benefit
db x-Trackers launched an equal weight S&P 500 ETF which attracted over +€140m of inflows. Meanwhile, cost competitive European products by Vanguard and iShares tracking the S&P 500 continued with the previous months trend of collecting record flows.
HSBC Smart Beta ETF accumulating assets
The HSBC ESI Worldwide Equity UCITS ETF which was launched in June this year has had relatively significant inflows over the last two months. The total assets under management of the fund underlying the ETF are currently just shy of USD 1bn. The fund objective is to replicate the performance of the HSBC Economic Scale Index Worldwide.
