{"id":8125,"date":"2018-05-01T12:07:38","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/Life-Insurance-Blog\/?guid=aa629e5970c06e8c00097c74be347f40"},"modified":"2018-05-01T12:07:38","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T16:07:38","slug":"bond-etfs-attract-14-billion-in-april-leave-equities-on-back-foot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/2018\/05\/01\/bond-etfs-attract-14-billion-in-april-leave-equities-on-back-foot\/","title":{"rendered":"Bond ETFs attract $14 billion in April, leave equities on back foot"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Investors sought shelter in bonds over stocks in April on the heels of equity volatility and interest-rate fears.<\/p>\n<p>More than US$14 billion was added to U.S.-listed exchange-traded debt funds last month, the most since October 2014, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. That&#8217;s the third consecutive month that funds holding bonds attracted more cash than their stock counterparts &#8212; the longest streak since at least May 2011.<\/p>\n<p>With duration fears taking hold, investors favored short-term U.S. government debt, sinking US$2.3 billion into an iShares ETF that holds Treasury bonds with remaining maturities of between one month and a year, the most since January 2016.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"related_links\">\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/investing\/in-a-world-of-etfs-whats-next-for-active-managers\">In a world of ETFs, what\u2019s next for active managers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/investing\/funds\/how-average-investors-can-play-in-the-private-equity-big-leagues\">How average investors can play in the private-equity big leagues<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/business.financialpost.com\/investing\/the-three-keys-to-selecting-a-successful-fund-manager\">The three keys to selecting a successful fund manager<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;The big month for fixed-income flows is mostly a reaction to the stock market&#8217;s increasing weakness &#8212; as well as fear of rising rates &#8212; as the bulk of the cash went to ultra-short term debt ETFs,&#8221; said Eric Balchunas, an ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.<\/p>\n<p>Interest-rate risk also guided corporate-debt exposures, with investors allocating a record US$1.3 billion to the iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF. Another iShares ETF, which is focused on company debt and aims to protect against rising rates, took in a record US$111 million.<\/p>\n<p>With ETFs used by investors of all stripes &#8212; from fast-money traders to investment advisers rebalancing retail portfolios &#8212; not everyone soured on duration risk.<\/p>\n<p>Money managers also poured US$1.6 billion into the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF, the most since September, a potential bet that long-dated U.S. bonds have reached a cycle peak.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Any sort of backup in yields sees that kind of buying, highlighting that investor demand for return on ample savings is big,&#8221; said Aaron Kohli, a strategist at BMO Capital Markets.<\/p>\n<p>The risk-off nature of the flows shouldn&#8217;t be overstated. Stock funds managed to gather US$11.5 billion in April, reversing two consecutive months of redemptions.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/\"><em>Bloomberg.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s the third consecutive month that funds holding bonds attracted more cash than their stock counterparts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":578,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/578"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8125"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8129,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8125\/revisions\/8129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lifeinsurance-orleans.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}