Pick up in fixed income demand drives global ETP flows in September: iShares by BlackRock
September figures from iShares by BlackRock reveal that USD269.1 billion was added to global ETPs in September, the fourth-highest inflow month of the year so far.
Continued equity demand and a pickup in fixed income (FI) drove flows: equity held broadly steady at USD130.0 billion, while FI rose to USD96.4 billion, offsetting lower commodity buying of USD10.4 billion.
US Treasuries lead fixed income
The backup in global bond yields didn’t deter allocations to US Treasuries (USTs), which rose MoM to USD26.6 billion – the highest monthly inflow since March. Other sovereign rates exposures also saw inflows, albeit at a smaller scale (USD3.8 billion). Buying of spread assets also persisted in emerging markets (EM), with EM debt flows rising to USD16.2 billion, driven by APAC-listed ETPs. In contrast, investment grade (IG) credit flows fell to USD1.9 billion from USD7.9 billion in August, driven by outflows from US-listed ETPs, while high yield (HY) flows turned negative (-USD0.4 billion) for the first time since March.
The vast majority of UST flows went into short-term exposures (USD17.64 billion) for a second consecutive month. Unlike August, however, buying returned in intermediate-term exposures (USD1.5 billion), while persisting in long term exposures (USD4.8 billion). Ex-US rates flows were concentrated in blended-maturity products.
UST momentum also continued in EMEA-listed flows, although the preference for domestic rates returned after August tilted towards USTs for the first time this year: September saw USD3.2 billion added, predominantly to European rates, versus USD1.1 billion to USTs.
Equity flows moderate
US equity flows fell from USD89.1 billion in August to USD50.2B in September – the lowest monthly inflow since January 2026 and below the USD87.2 billion YTD monthly average prior to September. Buying fell across listing regions, but the impact on global equity ETP flows was cushioned by stronger flows into global equity exposures (USD52.4 billion). Global sector flows, by contrast, remained low for a second consecutive month – despite increased conviction in tech – amid a broader pullback in precision exposures.
European equity buying continued but moderated to USD3.4 billion, while EM equity returned to positive territory with USD6.2 billion of inflows, split relatively evenly between broad and single-country exposures. Buying of China equity ETPs offset a rotation out of South Korea, while India equity ETP flows (USD0.4 billion) turned positive for the first time since February. Japanese equity flows also rebounded to USD5.1 billion.
Commodity flows persist
After elevated buying of global commodity ETPs in August (USD20.8 billion), flows moderated to USD10.4 billion in September – still comfortably the third-highest inflow month of the year, behind August and January. The slowdown was driven by precious metals: gold ETP flows fell to USD10.0 billion from USD17.9 billion, while silver flows declined to USD0.2 billion from USD1.1 billion.
Elsewhere, conviction in broad commodity ETPs continued with USD1.2 billion of inflows, while energy commodities (-USD0.1 billion) recorded their fourth outflow month in five.
EMEA Snapshot
Flows into EMEA-listed ETPs fell to USD41.6 billion in September, as lower commodity (USD3.7 billion) and equity buying (USD28.4 billion) offset persistent fixed income conviction, where flows rose to USD9.4 billion. The slowdown in commodity flows reflected lower gold buying (USD4.0 billion), following elevated inflows of USD7.9 billion in August.
EMEA-listed FI flows rose to USD9.4 billion in September, as the global preference for rates exposures extended to EMEA. IG flows increased MoM to USD2.7 billion, while EMD flows fell to USD0.3 billion and HY flows turned negative (-USD0.5 billion) for the first time since March.
EMEA-listed equity flows were not immune to weaker global equity sentiment, falling to USD28.4 billion in September from USD40.7 billion in August. Flows remained positive, but US equity buying recorded the sharpest slowdown, from USD11.0 billion to USD3.0 billion, while European equity flows saw the least moderation, easing from USD4.7 billion to USD3.3 billion. In contrast to the global trend, EMEA investors showed a clear preference for broad EM equity exposure (USD1.9 billion) over regional or single-country EM (-USD0.3 billion).