November sees the second slowest month of 2014 for ETF launches

This report aggregates newly launched funds in November and highlights the performance of the funds launched in October.

• 33 funds were launched in November, almost half the amount of ETFs launched in October.
• 15 funds were launched in the Americas, nine in Europe and nine in the APAC region.
• 11 funds were focused on Emerging Markets.

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November New Listings

At an average of 46 ETF launches per month in 2014, November comes in with the second lowest number of ETF launches this year. The 33 newly launched ETFs just beat out August by a single fund to avoid being tied for the slowest month of the year for fund launches. It is reasonable to blame the November slump on the start of the holidays. Another reason for a perceived slowdown is the creation of the Shanghai-Hong Kong stock connect that occurred mid-November, allowing foreign ETFs to invest in Chinese A Shares. As many as 40 US listed China A Shares ETFs have been registered with the SEC, awaiting approval. This should be a big theme in the coming months.

Emerging Market ETFs played a significant role in November launches, with a third of all funds focused on investments in the growing markets. Nine different issuers added Emerging Market ETFs to their portfolios this past month.

October flows

Funds launched in October of this year have gained $1.2bn in assets since their inception. The flows were helped by the fact that over 60 funds were launched in October, an unusually high number for 2014.

The Americas were responsible for a majority of the flows with over $959m in new assets piling into the 41 funds that were launched in October. The biggest gainer was First Trust Eurozone AlphaDEX ETF (FEUZ) which gained $382m in assets since its inception, showing US investor's appetite for eurozone focused equities.

Europe was able to earn $261m in inflows across the 22 funds launched in October. UBS ETF MSCI USA UCITS ETF (USAUKD) was the biggest earner, with $68.7m in asset flows since October 8^th. Interestingly enough, the largest European earner invests in US listed equities, proving that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Due to lack of competition, BetaShares Australian Dividend Harvester Fund ETF(HVST) was the top earner for APAC October launches. As the single fund launched out of APAC, its $8.53m in asset flows also represents the total for the region.

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James Hohorst, ETF Analyst, Markit
Tel: +1 646 679 3012
james.hohorst@markit.com

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.