ETFs allow investors to easily expose themselves or hedge risk in specific situations. This year, as the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine unfolds, ETFs exposed to international assets have increased their activity. In particular, in the case of equity ETFs, since the beginning of the year, more than 5% more volume has been allocated to international ETFs than to domestic ETFs, going from 25% to 30% of the total theoretical volume traded when the tension surrounding Ukraine seemed to have reached its peak until now. Fixed-income ETFs traded more than 3% more in February compared to January.
The change in the volume of ETFs probably reflected the fear of war and the growing tension will continuously reinforce this trend. The rise of ETFs in the fixed income market last month suggested a possible flight to the bond market in the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, as ETFs have been growing steadily during periods of high market volatility. In addition, in March, we began to see even more flows to fixed-income ETFs from equity ETFs. The ongoing war could accelerate the shift in volume towards the fixed income market.
There are ETFs that focus on the main sectors of the stock market, such as health and energy, while the larger ones tend to follow the broader indices, such as the S%26P 500 of the stock market or the Bloomberg Barclays U. The following graphs show that the average ETF has tighter price differentials than medium-sized corporate stocks. We measure the quality of the ETF market by comparing changes in the quality of the ETF market with changes in corporate stock attributes during periods of stress. Actively managed ETFs, independent of the asset class, represent one of the growth points in the sector, with more than 60% of new launches last year.
However, this move toward the specificity of thematic ETFs, such as cybersecurity ETFs, has its risks, according to investment consultant Charles Ellis, author of two forthcoming books, Inside Vanguard and Figuring It Out. The exchange-traded fund, or ETF, first arrived in 1993, but has seen its biggest increases in popularity after the 2008 recession. Index funds and ETFs have led to the democratization of the US stock market and of a significant part of global stock markets, except for the US. Certain characteristics of ETFs, such as the ability to create and exchange shares in exchange for the underlying securities, can help improve market quality by offering market participants an alternative way to execute trades.
ETFs, like most investment funds, including traditional index funds and actively managed funds, are a basket of securities that are traded on an exchange and can contain securities such as stocks, bonds and commodities. At the same time, we have observed that the market quality of ETFs remains strong, especially compared to corporate stocks. ETFs are another form of OEF (open fund), possibly less expensive and more fiscally efficient.
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