Weekly Market Monitor – Week Ending 24 February 2023

• Short US equity funds (SNAS, BBUS), which bet against the US share market, outperformed last week as US stocks plunged on the Federal Reserve’s commitment to rate hikes. Weak forecasts from retail bellwethers Walmart and Home Depot also dulled the month-long upward momentum. US dollar ETFs (YANK, USD) also gained as traders bet on the Fed’s commitment to higher rates over other central banks.
• Risk assets were the theme across the poorest performers, with e-commerce, gaming, crypto and tech ETFs (CRYP, LNAS, GGUS, CURE, IBUY, ASIA, GAME) all sinking on the prospect of discount rates staying higher for longer.
• There were $346.8 million in reported inflows last week, with the VanEck MSCI International Small Companies Quality ETF (QSML) leading the pack seeing its AUM more than triple. The remaining chunk of flows were largely attributed to AUD cash and income ETFs (AAA, SUBD, BILL, QPON), reflecting positive investor sentiment on AUD yields.
• There were $181.3 million in reported outflows last week, marking yet another strong week of positive flows for the industry.
• The top traded funds for the week were large vanilla index trackers (VAS, VGS, IOZ) as usual. Short equity hedge funds (BBOZ, SNAS) also made strong showings as traders prepared for volatility ahead.

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