It’s been exactly one year since Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, and what have buyers of ETFs done? Flee the country.
The shift shows investors may be growing impatient with the implementation of Trump’s agenda, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas.
The top ten ETFs that have recorded only inflows of cash since the election have one notable characteristic in common — their holdings exclude U.S. companies.
Emerging markets, value and small-cap funds dominate the list, but other factors need to be considered, as well.
At the top of the list is the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA), a cheap, large-cap fund tracking companies in developed market countries, according to a Bloomberg analysis of flow data.
Japanese companies represent about 25% of the holdings and U.K. firms make up about 15% of the constituents. Assets in IEFA have almost tripled since the election to about $4 billion from $1.4 billion.
A majority of the ten largest ETFs that have seen only inflows since Trump’s election through Nov. 7 charge a fee in the range of six to 14 basis points, according to Bloomberg data. The average asset-weighted expense ratio for U.S.-listed ETFs is about 23 basis points, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data.
