Tech fund sees $1.5B in inflows amid resurgence in risk appetite

Though U.S. technology shares saw a downturn over the summer, investors sank $1.48 billion into the PowerShares QQQ Trust Series 1 on Tuesday.

 The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF has returned a whopping 22.5% so far this year.
A NAO humanoid robot, developed by Softbank Corp., stands on display at the CeBIT 2017 tech fair in Hannover, Germany, on Monday, March 20, 2017. Leading edge technologies in the digital world are showcased in this annual event which runs March 20 - 24. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg

That’s the fourth-largest inflow into the industry’s benchmark ETF in the past five years, and the second-biggest commitment among U.S.-listed ETFs in yesterday’s trading session.

Valuation fears and fragile market sentiment had spurred a $619 million withdrawal from the $50 billion ETF on Monday, but Tuesday saw a rebound in global risk appetite as U.S. tensions with North Korea eased. The PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF, which has returned a whopping 22.5% so far this year, has closed above its 50-day moving average for the past three sessions.

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To add insult to injury, these losers charge high fees – 12 of the 20 have expense ratios over 1%.

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Other technical indicators are less decisive. The ETF’s relative-strength index, a measure of how fast prices have moved, shows the fund is neither overbought nor oversold, while the moving average convergence-divergence indicator, another gauge of momentum, is below its red-signal line, suggesting a downtrend.

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