(Bloomberg) -- Investors poured a record $191 billion into U.S.-registered exchange-traded products last year, topping the previous peak of $187.2 billion set in 2012.
The record was driven by $148 billion in deposits to products tracking U.S. stocks, according to data compiled by BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest ETP provider. Globally, ETPs gathered $236 billion, the third-best year.
Investors shifted away from fixed income in 2013 in anticipation of higher interest rates, while putting money into the equity market. The U.S. Federal Reserve signaled in June it was contemplating when to scale back its purchases of U.S. bonds, prompting a 2 %decline in the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index last year. Global stocks as measured by the MSCI World Index advanced 24% in 2013, the biggest gain since 2009, amid signs of a worldwide economic recovery.
Total assets in U.S. ETPs rose 26% in 2013 to $1.7 trillion while ETPs worldwide reached $2.4 trillion, according to BlackRock.
ETPs, which include exchange-traded funds, notes and trusts, are bundles of securities that trade on a stock exchange. Most ETPs track an index of stocks or bonds.
The $174 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, the largest ETP, gathered $16.3 billion in 2013, more than any competitor. The $11.8 billion WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund was second- most popular, attracting $9.8 billion.
SPDR Gold Shares, which holds $31.5 billion in gold bullion, lost more than any other product, as investors pulled $25 billion.
