This week's highlights
Equity markets mostly declined last week, with second-wave fears and cautious Fed comments halting the rally. Bearish funds (BBUS, BBOZ and BEAR) were amongst the top performers, while technology-related companies in China (CNEW) and the US (FANG) outperformed. Global energy companies (FUEL), banks (BNKS) and US small-and mid-cap companies (IJR and IJH) were amongst the poorest performers.
Precious metals all rallied strongly last week. GOLD returned 5.1% for the week, while the diversified ETFS Physical Precious Metals Basket (ETPMPM) returned 3.8%. Gold miner (GDX) was also amongst the top performers. Oil declined, with OOO returning -7.8%.
Total flows into domestically domiciled ETFs were $285m, while outflows totalled just $14m. Domestic cash fund AAA saw the biggest inflows for the week, followed by IOZ. Consumer staples fund IXI saw the largest outflows.
Bearish fund BBOZ was the most traded fund for the week, followed by domestic equity fund VAS. GOLD and OOO saw above average volumes.
ETFS FANG+ ETF (FANG), which invests in 10 of the world’s largest technology and technology-enabled companies, returned 2.4% for the week. FANG+ stocks, including Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google have shown resilience in turbulent markets this year. Year-to-date the NYSE FANG+ Index, which FANG aims to track, has outperformed the broader S&P 500 by more than 30%.