The assets invested in exchange-traded products (ETPs) including both ETFs and ETNs rose by 6% at the end of April 2012 from the previous year to $1.2 trillion, according to the ETF Industry Association.
ETP net cash inflows added up to approximately $3.0 billion for the month of April 2012. Since the start of this year, 2012 net cash inflows are near $58.9 billion.
Bond funds like the iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) and the iSharesiBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (HYG) continue to lead the fixed income category, which has raked in $21.3 billion since the beginning of the year. AGG has gained 1.6% while HYG is ahead by 2.65% year-to-date through the market close of May 15. Also, April was the 16th straight month of positive net flows in bond ETFs.
The Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) is this year’s most popular ETF in terms of cash flow and has gathered just over $7 billion in assets.