Global investors still chasing Infrastructure ETFs   

Last week, ‘Global Infrastructure’ remained the theme of choice for investors, having netted USD$254 million as the USD$1 trillion infrastructure bill still echoes. Meanwhile, ‘Natural Resources,' the second most appealing theme, pulled in USD$193 million of investors' capital as most ETFs aligned with the theme outperformed the broader market year-to-date. 

The bipartisan bill still echoing as investors chased infrastructure

Similar to the previous week, ‘Global Infrastructure’ remained the theme of choice for global investors and led the flow receivers in the thematic universe. Although down from last week’s net inflows of USD$629 million, it still brought in USD$254 million of new capital. This was mainly propelled by the iShares U.S. Infrastructure ETF (XNYS:IFRA) experiencing big inflows week-to-date. In fact, XNYS:IFRA netted USD$180 million in inflows and took second place on the top receivers list,  likely due to the USD$1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure bill announcements still fresh in investors’ minds. To recap, the bill was signed by President Biden in mid-November last year, and more recently, some USD$110 billion were allocated to support thousands of infrastructure projects across the country. 

‘Global Infrastructure’ and ‘Energy Infrastructure’ are the only two themes following the ‘Infrastructure’ trend. ‘Energy Infrastructure’ pulled in USD$117 million of investor capital as Europe’s new energy infrastructure began to emerge. The European Commission showcased a new EUR$300 billion plan to decrease the EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels before 2030. The trend ‘Infrastructure’ netted USD$706 million in inflows over the last week to be crowned the top flow receiver amongst the 13 different trends.

ETFs in play:

• Infrastructure ETFs
• Energy Infrastructure ETFs
• Global Infrastructure ETFs

Global investors stormed natural resources 

The ‘Natural Resources’ theme was the second most popular in the thematic universe. Investors streamed USD$193 million of net inflows into ETFs following the theme. The trend appeared to be driven mostly by cash influx into natural resources ETFs domiciled in America. The USD$8.8 billion FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index Fund ETF (GUNR) pulled in USD$182 million, the USD$3.8 billion SPDR S&P Global Natural Resources ETF (GNR) pulled in USD$12 million, and the USD$678 million SPDR S&P North American Natural Resources ETF (NANR) USD$7 million. All three ETFs outperformed the broader market, having gained 20.01%, 17.04%, and 35.39% year-to-date. The ‘Natural Resources’ trend took third place in terms of highest weekly inflows, securing USD$259 million in net inflows mostly from investments in the ‘Natural Resources’ theme and the ‘Agribusiness’ theme, which netted USD$78 million in inflows across 5 ETFs. Additionally, themes such as ‘Strategic Metals’ managed to attract USD$1 million. Others ETFs aligned to the ‘Natural Resources’ investment opportunity failed to attract investors, with net outflows totaling USD$13 million last week. 

ETFs in play:

• Agribusiness ETFs
• Natural Resources ETFs
• Strategic Metals ETFs
• Timber and Forestry ETFs
• Water ETFs

Data for this article is as of May 27th, 2022.