US ETF flows increase while investors leave Europe

Global ETF flows for European-listed companies increased in June as a result of positive investor sentiment brought on by strong earnings

Following the money is one of the best ways to determine how other investors feel about the market.

According to an analysis of etfbook . com data from investment manager Fidelity International, the cash flows into and out of European exchange-traded funds (ETFs) during June point to a shift away from their European counterparts and toward US stocks and funds.

With slightly less than £45 billion in total funds, June was a great month for European ETF flows overall, 29 percent higher than the three-month average and 19 percent higher than the 12-month average.

"Investor confidence has been bolstered by strong corporate earnings and new record highs in equity markets," stated Stefan Kuhn, Fidelity International's European head of ETF and index distribution.

Watch the entire video here: Knowing how the money has been moving lately can be helpful if you're thinking about where to invest in the upcoming months.

The flow of money moves from Europe to America.

Over three times the monthly average for the region over the previous year, funds investing in North American equities saw inflows of £14.7 billion during the month.

Demand for artificial intelligence ETFs will have contributed significantly to the strength of American stocks, with the US continuing to be the main player in this theme. The industry also benefited from SpaceX's historic IPO in June.

However, European investors seem to have given up on their home markets, as evidenced by the £2.2 billion in withdrawals from Europe-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that target European stocks in June.

Source: Fidelity International via etfbook.com. Data from June 30, 2026.

"The United States' return was the story of the second quarter," Kuhn stated. "We are now seeing a clear preference for the US market again, whereas at the beginning of the year investors were allocating more heavily to Europe and other regions," he continued.

According to Fidelity, June is the third consecutive month that funds with a focus on Europe have seen withdrawals.

As investors purchase active ETFs, commodity ETFs decline.

As expectations for higher interest rates (especially in the US) increased and the Iranian conflict seemed to be abating, demand for commodity ETFs decreased in June, coinciding with a drop in gold prices.

According to Kuhn, "some of the geopolitical risk premium has faded from commodity markets with the immediate escalation phase now behind us." In addition, a lot of investors anticipate that central banks will maintain higher interest rates for a longer period of time, which will make non-yielding asset classes like gold less appealing."

However, actively-managed ETFs are still very popular. According to Fidelity's analysis, June was a record month for flows into these funds.

According to Kuhn, "the strong demand for active ETFs indicates that investors want to differentiate between regions, sectors, and individual companies." "Active security selection can offer significant added value in a market where the difference between winners and losers is growing."