Assets in the exchange traded fund industry saw their run of inflows come to an end after 23 months. Total assets under management (AUM) in the global ETF sector fell month-on-month for the first time in January since January 2014, according to data from Cerulli Associates, a global analytics firm.

The February 2016 issue of The Cerulli Edge – US Monthly Product Trends Edition – reported that net outflows of $1.8bn, combined with poor market returns, resulted in a 4.7% drop in global ETF assets during January.

Investors showed a clear preference for risk-off ETF asset categories during January, resulting in net outflows across equities and inflows for Treasury and Gold ETPs.

A significant portion of outflows were attributable to international equity funds, which shed $3.1bn over the month. This was driven primarily by emerging market funds which saw net withdrawals of $2.3bn. Net flows were also negative across US equity funds as well as sector ETFs, while fixed income, alternative and commodity ETFs all recorded positive net asset flows.

Investors clearly favoured ‘risk-off’ ETFs during the month as a means of protecting against heightened market volatility. The iShares Short Treasury Bond Fund gathered the most assets with net inflows of $2.7bn while the SPDR Gold Shares attracted $1.4bn.

Interestingly, while passive funds experienced net outflows of $3.0bn, active ETFs were in demand and gathered $1.1bn, perhaps suggesting investors sought out experienced management for navigation through the choppy markets.

Despite the significant outflows, global AUM remains above $2tn.

(All data compiled by Cerulli Associates)