The popularity of exchange-traded funds continues to grow as the segment had two record-breaking quarters in a row, according to State Street Global Advisors.
This year's first quarter saw U.S.-listed ETFs attract a record-breaking $132 billion in assets, which surpassed the prior record of $128.6 billion set in the last quarter of 2016 and resulted in the best back-to-back quarters ever, according to the U.S. ETF Flash Flows report from State Street.
Breaking down the segment, equity ETFs had the third-best quarter with approximately $95.3 billion of inflows, including over $36 billion in March alone.
Fixed-income ETFs saw the best quarter ever by taking in $35.5 billion and surpassing the prior record set in the first quarter of last year.
For some investors, emerging-markets and European ETFs were popular. International equities posted their third-best quarter of all time with more than over $33 billion of inflows in the first quarter.
Emerging-markets ETFs attracted nearly $5 billion in March and more than $10 billion in the quarter, while Europe-based funds brought in over $1.8 billion in March.
On the sector level, technology led with $945 million of inflows in March. Real estate ETFs and materials ETFs were also favored, attracting $775 million and $713 million, respectively, says State Street Global.