Weekly Market Monitor - Week Ending 12 May 2023

• Platinum group metals (ETPMPD, ETPMPT) topped the performance chart last week as China announced that it will implement upgraded emission standards for vehicles starting July 1^st. PGMs are industrial metals critical to the construction of pollutant scrubbers in non-electric vehicles and are key to meeting the new stringent regulations. Commodity traders may also be short covering as palladium looks to recover, further contributing to performance.
• Uranium ETFs (ATOM, URNM) also outperformed as France pushed for the European Union’s recognition of nuclear power as an alternative to renewable technologies. The country will host an international meeting under the banner of “Nuclear Alliance”. Participants consist of representatives from 15 EU countries.
• Crypto ETFs (CRYP, EBTC, EETH) were the poorest performers last week as the familiar narrative of US regulatory crackdown rears its head once more. Traditional finance institutions are offloading digital asset exposure to manage regulatory risk.
• There were $364.6 million in reported industry inflows last week, of which bond and cash ETFs (AAA, BILL, IAF, IGB, SUBD, USTB) were once again majorly responsible. As interest rates continue to rise internationally, investor sentiment increasingly skews toward income yielding assets.
• There were $252.3 million in reported outflows, marking a positive week of net flows for the ETF industry.
• Bond and cash ETFs (AAA, IAF, IGB, IHCB, ISEC) were the top traded funds for the week. Notably, a large portion of these flows can be attributed to the rebalancing of iShares’ Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs).

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