ETF Assets Jump More Than 30% Over Past Year to $1.6 Trillion

The Investment Company Institute announced Wednesday that assets in exchange-traded funds reached $1.6 trillion as of October, an increase of more than 30% over the $1.2 trillion in ETF assets counted as of October 2012. The great majority of those assets were in domestic equity funds — $972 billion — up from $733 billion as of October 2012, though assets in global and international equity ETFs increased even more on a percentage basis over the past year, from $295 billion to $392 billion.

In October 2013 alone, ETF assets rose $72 billion, or 4.7%, ICI reported, and the value of all ETF shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by $25.4 billion. In October 2012, the value of all ETF shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by only $1.89 billion. 

As for mutual fund assets, ICI reported Nov. 26 that they increased by only $332 billion, or 2.3%, from October 2012 through October 2013, to a total of $14.63 trillion. Assets in stock mutual funds grew 4% to $7.40 trillion over the past year, while taxable bond fund assets grew only by 0.7%, muni bond funds fell 0.3% and both taxable and tax-free money market funds’ assets decreased.