According to a note from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, flows into robotic ETFs and mutual funds have grown significantly over the last year, swelling assets from around $5.1 billion to $8.9bn.

New data shows that long-term performance of active bond funds has generally failed to beat the market, pushing more investors towards fixed income exchange-traded funds instead.

US-focused health care ETFs are on the rise, having shaken off Donald Trump’s failed Obamacare replacement bill.

Despite continued uncertainty regarding their operations after Brexit – two-thirds of major financial firms with UK operations are yet to make any public statement about their plans – Europe and UK-focused bank ETFs remain buoyant.

The iShares Edge MSCI USA Value Factor UCITS ETF (LON: IUVL) was Europe’s top selling ETF during February, suggesting investors are seeking to capitalise on the continuing US bull-run while avoiding companies with stretched valuations. The fund, which selects stocks that are relatively undervalued compared to their fundamentals, gathered over $600m during the month.

The hedge fund industry experienced its fastest rate of fund closures last year since 2008, according to a report from Hedge Fund Research, leading many investors to explore similar strategies through alternate vehicles, including ETFs. While hedge fund performance was mixed in 2016, Kenneth Heinz, President of Hedge Fund Research, believes performance in 2017 will be strong across a range of strategies, driven by the continuation of macroeconomic normalization.

High yield corporate bond funds suffered large outflows in the first two weeks of March as an interest rate rise in the US and a sinking oil price drove investors away from the asset class. Investors pulled out $5.7 billion from junk bond funds in the week up to 15 March, according to EPFR Global, a provider of flow data on ETF and mutual funds.

Investors in currency ETFs with sterling exposure may need to brace themselves for increased volatility following confirmation that UK Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger Article 50 (the official process whereby Britain begins to leave the EU) this month and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is preparing for a second referendum on Scottish independence.

Almost three quarters of actively managed equity funds in the UK charge an identical annual fee of 0.75%, according to a study from fund manager SCM Direct. While active fund fees remain relatively high, the proliferation of ETFs across the world has forced providers to be more competitive and reduce costs – according to Goldman Sachs, the average typical European equity ETF costs 0.29%.

Tough talk from the US Federal Reserve and an anticipated hike in interest rates as soon as next week have seen 10-year US Treasury yields moving sharply higher to 2.5%, its highest point thus far in 2017, with fixed income ETFs dropping as a result. Pricing in the Federal Funds Futures Market is implying a probability of over 80% for an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve this month.