Which ETFs are attracting the most investment?
Despite rising market volatility, equity ETFs continued to be popular picks with investors last month. Which ETFs and sectors saw the biggest inflows?
By Dan McEvoy
Published 16 hours ago
While equity markets stuttered in July – the MSCI World Index, which represents 85% of the total market capitalisation of each developed market in the world, grew just 0.5% during the month – flows into exchange-traded products were strong.
European-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) attracted flows of €47.3 billion in July, up 28.5% from €36.8 billion the previous month, according to data from investment research firm Morningstar.
Fund flows can give a broad indication of how investors feel about the market at a given point of time, though there is of course no guarantee that this will continue in future.
Among European-listed ETFs, those focusing on equity investing attracted €34.2 billion in flows during July, up from €29.9 billion in June. ETFs tracking bonds attracted €8.8 billion in July, up from €7.7 billion in June.
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“Despite a softer month for US equities, money continued to flow into both global and US-focused equity [ETFs], reflecting investor conviction in the long-term artificial intelligence and technology-led growth story,” said Jose Garcia-Zarate, senior principal at Morningstar. “Investors largely treated market weakness as a buying opportunity, continuing to allocate capital to growth-oriented exposures.”
While ETF flows remained strong in aggregate, there was some divergence between the allocations towards different styles of fund.
The Europe-listed ETF sectors that saw the biggest inflows and outflows
Blend equity ETFs (those holding a combination of value and growth stocks) saw some of the largest inflows among Europe-listed equity ETFs during July, according to Morningstar’s analysis.
Global large cap blend equity ETFs attracted €10.1 billion in flows during the month, followed by US large cap blend equity at €8.6 billion.
While ETFs that contained a blend of US large- and small-caps saw the largest flows, their counterparts that focused on either growth or value saw divergent flows. ETFs targeting US large cap growth stocks were among those that saw the largest outflows (€1.4 billion worth), but US large cap value ETFs saw outflows of €117 million.
| Top 10 | Net flow (€ million) | Bottom 10 | Net flow (€ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Global large cap blend equity | 10,108 | US large cap value equity | -117 |
| US large cap blend equity | 8,584 | Brazil equity | -149 |
| Global emerging markets equity | 3,574 | Asia ex-Japan equity | -197 |
| Japan large cap blend equity | 1,844 | Latin America equity | -213 |
| Global equity income | 1,571 | Germany equity | -248 |
| US large cap growth equity | 1,414 | China equity | -382 |
| Sector equity financial services | 1,374 | US small cap equity | -395 |
| Europe large cap blend equity | 1,148 | China equity – A shares | -422 |
| Sector equity technology | 1,120 | Europe ex-UK equity | -442 |
| Other equity | 873 | Global large cap value equity | -539 |
Source: Morningstar Direct. Data as of 31 July 2026.
“Interestingly, we saw little evidence of a meaningful rotation into defensive or value strategies during the pullback,” said Garcia-Zarate.
The ETF sectors that saw the largest outflows were global large cap value, which saw outflows of €539 million, and Europe ex-UK with €442 million in outflows.
Which Europe-listed ETFs saw the largest flows during July?
Vanguard’s FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (LON:VWRP) topped the list of ETFs seeing the largest inflows during July, with €3.3 billion flowing into the fund. iShares MSCI Japan ETF (LON:IJPN) came second, with €1.6 billion inflows.
State Street SPDR MSCI World ETF (LON:SWLD) saw the largest outflows, at €1.9 billion, followed by Xtrackers S&P 500 Swap ETF (LON:XSXG) which registered €981 million outflows.
| Top 10 | Net flow (€ million) | Bottom 10 | Net flow (€ million) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF | 3,308 | iShares Edge MSCI World Value Factor ETF | -328 |
| iShares MSCI Japan ETF USD Dist | 1,571 | Xtrackers MSCI World Value ETF | -334 |
| UBS Core MSCI EM UCITS ETF | 1,453 | iShares MSCI China ETF | -434 |
| iShares Core MSCI World ETF | 1,179 | Ossiam Lux Ossiam Shiller Barclays Cape US Sector Valu | -467 |
| UBS MSCI ACWI Climate Paris Aligned ETF | 1,145 | L&G Europe ex-UK Equity ETF | -522 |
| Xtrackers S&P 500 Swap II UCITS ETF | 1,039 | State Street SPDR S&P 500 Quality Aristocrats ETF | -734 |
| iShares CORE MSCI EM IMI ETF | 977 | iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | -773 |
| Xtrackers S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF | 960 | UBS MSCI ACWI Socially Responsible ETF | -957 |
| State Street SPDR MSCI All Country World ETF | 947 | Xtrackers S&P 500 Swap ETF | -981 |
| Xtrackers S&P 500 ETF | 862 | State Street SPDR MSCI World ETF | -1,887 |
Source: Morningstar Direct. Data as of 31 July 2026.
What happened to global ETP flows in July?
The data on flows into European-listed ETFs and ETCs was consistent with the picture that global ETP flows painted.
Global flows into exchange-traded products (ETPs) – which includes ETFs and ETCs – hit a record $362.6 billion in July, according to data from asset manager BlackRock.
BlackRock’s analysis showed that flows into equity ETPs rose for the third consecutive month to $64.8 billion.
Tech-focused ETPs saw higher flows than any other sector. Flows into tech ETPs reached a record $60.5 billion in July, smashing through the previous record of $32.0 billion, set the previous month.
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