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As U.S. markets swing and investors grapple with credit downgrades, a trade war and inflation fears, billions of dollars are flowing into ETFs that invest in international and emerging markets companies.
The largest ex-U.S. international exchange-traded fund, the $90.5 billion Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), has of late pulled off an impressive feat: It has not seen a single day of outflows over the past 52 weeks. It’s pulled in $11.7 billion over that period. Over the past month, VXUS has had $1.5 billion of inflows, and its last day of outflows was in February 2023.
Emerging markets ETFs are also being snapped up by investors in some cases. The $9.7 billion Avantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM) has over the past month pulled in $1.1 billion.
Investors have bid up international ETFs this year as some believe the Trump administration’s tariff war will force overseas companies to build domestic industries such as defense. VXUS has gained 14% this year compared with a 1.8% gain on the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). Still, VOO has jumped 13% over the past month, topping the 8.8% increase for VXUS.
AVEM vs. VOO
AVEM’s 10% gain this year has also topped VOO's return, while its one-month gain of 11% trails that of the big S&P 500 fund. Investors may be drawn to the potential for rising valuations in the ETF, with its average portfolio price/earnings ratio of 10.2, etf.com Research Lead Kent Thune, CFP, said.
“Looking under the hood of AVEM, the low average portfolio P/E is extremely attractive compared to the S&P 500's valuation, which is more than double that,” Thune said. Investors are also drawn to the fund’s top holdings, which include Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM), Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) and Tencent Holdings (TCEHY), he said.
VXUS Net Fund Flows—Source: FactSet
Still, VXUS may be seeing big inflows due to its status as the "workhorse" international ETF and its inclusion in robo-advisor and model portfolio schemes at Vanguard, said Daniel Sotiroff, CFA, Morningstar Direct senior manager research analyst.
He added that while VXUS and AVEM are outperforming VOO, mutual fund and ETF flows still favor U.S. investments. He said April mutual fund and ETF inflows of $2.9 billion into the foreign and large blend category were lower than typical, and overall emerging markets ETFs and mutual funds had outflows of $3.6 billion.