Global purchases of exchange-traded products (ETPs) totaled 212.4 billion dollars in April, marking their sixth-largest month of inflows on record, according to BlackRock data. The firm points to the return of risk appetite as the main reason behind the surge in investment flows into ETPs.
This rebound was largely driven by increased inflows into equities (148.4 billion dollars), which offset a slight decline in fixed-income purchases (52.8 billion dollars). Commodity flows returned to positive territory (3.5 billion dollars) following a period of investment outflows driven by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Although overall fixed-income flows were similar to the previous month (52.8 billion dollars in April versus 56.5 billion in March), the figure masked a significant rotation within the asset class, according to the firm.
The return of risk appetite caused flows into rate-sensitive fixed-income assets to fall from 38.5 billion dollars to 10.4 billion dollars — the lowest level since June 2025 — while flows into spread products increased. High-yield (HY) credit rebounded from the record outflows recorded in March (-8.9 billion dollars) to post inflows of 5.3 billion dollars in April, the highest amount since May 2025, mainly toward U.S. exposures.
Investment-grade (IG) credit ETPs and emerging-market debt ETPs recorded inflows of 10.8 billion and 8.2 billion dollars in April, respectively, following relatively stable flows for both in March. Subscriptions into inflation-linked assets also remained steady, with 2.2 billion dollars added to global inflation-linked ETPs in April.
The decline in rate-sensitive flows was largely due to the collapse in short-term rate flows, which fell from 26.6 billion dollars in March to 900 million in April, although reductions were also seen across other maturities.
In March, short-term positions accounted for 69% of total rate flows, while in April this percentage dropped to just 9%, with mixed-maturity products becoming the most popular position, accounting for more than 50% of flows.
Return to U.S. positions
Investments in U.S. assets drove the rebound in flows into equity ETPs, which rose from 39.5 billion dollars in March to 121.2 billion in April, representing the fourth-largest monthly inflow on record. Purchases of U.S. equities increased across all listing regions, with flows largely directed toward large-cap exposures.
By contrast, European equity flows (-2.5 billion dollars) and emerging-market equity flows (-26.6 billion dollars) entered negative territory, while purchases of Japanese equities fell to 1.9 billion dollars.
The global emerging-market equity flow picture was once again distorted by flows listed in the APAC region, which accounted for all outflows in April (-37.1 billion dollars) and offset increased purchases in the U.S. listing region (5.4 billion dollars) and EMEA (4.1 billion dollars).
By contrast, although European equity sales were driven mainly by U.S.-listed ETPs (76% of total European equity outflows), April also saw net sales of EMEA-listed products, marking the first month of simultaneous outflows from European equity ETPs in both listing regions since December 2024.
