The exchange-traded product market saw net new assets of $600 million in April, according to the latest ETP Landscape released by BlackRock. Global ETP assets now total $1.716 trillion.
This was fueled by $5.7 billion of inflows in fixed income products offset by developed markets equity ETP outflows, of $4.9 billion, according to the report.
Further, April flows slowed considerably in comparison to monthly trends in the first quarter when the industry attracted $65.4 billion.
Inflows into fixed income ETPs continued for the 16th month running with the category gathering $5.7 billion as compared to $6.0 billion in March and $4.7 billion in February.
Meanwhile, investment grade corporate fixed income ETPs attracted another $2.1 billion and high yield garnered $1.1 billion in April. The spread between US high yield bonds and 10-year Treasuries began the month at 500 basis points, peaked at 543 bps and ended at 521 bps.
Outflows of $4.9 billion from developed markets equity funds came primarily from Europe where ETPs relinquished $5.3 billion driven by German country funds.
The report said that year-to-date inflows of $66.0 billion through April 2012 are on par with 2011’s comparable total of $68.2 billion.
