Where'd It Go?

Much of the focus in this month’s Investment Advisor is on looking forward. Here’s a brief look back at where investors were putting their money last year.

Barclays Global Investors reported $391.7 billion invested in ETFs as of the end of October, a 30% increase year-to-date. ETFs offered in the U.S. have gathered over $55.2 billion in net new inflows through October, Barclays further reported. A majority of ETF assets reside in domestic equities; however, international now accounts for 23% of ETF products, up from 13% in 2004 (see chart below).

Following two years of 33% annual growth in options trading volume, the Options Industry Council reported that annual options volume through the end of November increased by 35.9% to a total of 1,857,955,837 contracts.