In a stark turnaround, exchange traded funds (ETFs) have seen net outflows in the opening weeks of 2024, contrasting with a strong performance through much of 2023.

During the first week of 2024, the ETF market saw net outflows of $2.047 billion, while last week drew net inflows of $944 million. Thus, in the first two weeks of 2024 the global ETF market saw net outflows of $1.103 billion, according to data from Bank Of America.

BofA said the outflows were of all types, including large- and mid-cap and broad market ETFs, while sector ETF outflows were led by real estate. The Vanguard Real Estate ETF (NYSE:VNQ), which tracks U.S. residential and commercial real estate investment trusts, is down 3% in January.

The turnaround reflects overall equity market sentiment in the first couple of weeks of 2024, which has been clouded by rising geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a market re-think on the pace and number of rate cuts the Federal Reserve is expected to make.

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ETFs Saw Strong Inflows In 2023

Meanwhile, data published by Lipper showed the global exchange traded fund market enjoyed a strong year of inflows and growth in assets under management in 2023.

The global ETF industry saw overall net inflows of $870.1 billion — with $585.7 billion of the total coming from U.S. investors alone. In Europe, Irish investors put in a strong effort, with $129.5 billion of the total inflows.

Equity ETFs were, by far, the most popular, accounting for 77% of total assets under managements, while bond ETFs accounted for 19% and commodity products 2%. Of the equity ETFs, 94% of AUM were in index tracking products, while 6% were in actively or semi-actively managed products.

BlackRock Inc (NYSE:BLK) continued to stand out as the top global promoter of exchange traded funds in 2023, with its iShares series of offerings reaching over $3.5 trillion in assets under management — more than a third of the company's total AUM of $10 trillion.

In second place was Vanguard with $2.5 trillion in AUM and third was State Street Global Advisors (NYSE:STT) — which promotes the SPDR series of ETFs — with $1.3 trillion AUM.

Crypto-Related ETFs Boosted in 2023

We've seen how the broad market has performed but what about individual ETF performance?

Not, surprisingly — given the gains for cryptocurrencies during 2023 — crypto and blockchain-related ETFs were the best performing.

According to data from Morningstar, with a standout 255% return, the top performing ETF over 2023 was the VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (NYSE:DAPP), which tracks listed stocks such as crypto miners and exchanges. Second was the Global X Blockchain ETF (NYSE:BKCH) which returned 253% over the year.

Both are down in the opening weeks of 2024.

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