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US stocks (^DJI, ^GSPC, ^IXIC) are rebounding, boosting large-cap US equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs). AllianceBernstein global head of ETFs and portfolio solutions, Noel Archard, sits down with Madison Mills on Catalysts to discuss the rebound rally, market volatility, and portfolio allocation strategies.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here.
Large cap US Equity ETFs all rising alongside the broader market coming off of reports that the White House is considering cutting its tariffs on China. Will today's rally give ETF investors their appetite for more risk? Or is this a shift toward safe haven assets that's here to stay? I want to bring Nol Archerd Alliance Funds Global Head of ETFs and portfolio Solutions for this week's ETF report brought to you by Invesco. QQQ. No, great to have you on here. Obviously, we are seeing a huge relief rally in the markets. You've got your Nasdaq up now over 4% this morning, but you know that investors have continued to be buying throughout some of the volatility that we've seen. Talk to me about where that leaves us today. Do investors have the necessary capital on hand to continue to buy into this rally?
Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of the interesting pieces. Um, you know, we've talked about this before. There's still a lot of cash on the sidelines. People have been keeping some powder dry as as we've moved, uh, really through the last year frankly. I think what's, uh, you know, it's the old Mark Twain quote about New England. If you don't like the weather in New England, wait a few minutes. I mean, that's how it feels like with these market conditions lately. Um, so it's nice to see the relief rally. We have to see where it goes. I think what we've seen on on that appetite is we're continuing to see flows into into ETFs. First quarter was again tracking towards maybe another record year. Softened up a little bit as we went through April. Uh, as far as as the amount of flows and what it was going into, but a bit of a pivot into fixed income, a little bit of a pullback from equities, but you know, as of yesterday, um, that started to reverse itself as as a little bit of the, you know, uh, I won't say that the concerns about the buy America trade is over, but we're starting to see some early signs of life, but to say early is is an understatement, right? It's been a couple of days and I think investors want to see how this plays out.
Yeah. They they want to see how it plays out, but they've also been repositioning along the way. So I wonder if you can talk a bit about that, how much of reallocation have you seen out of US stocks?
Yeah, well, I think that it's driven by a few things. We're seeing, um, uh, you know, for the first time in in, you know, a decade, we're actually seeing some some good returns outside of the US. Um, driven by a number of factors. Some some because of investments by companies in Europe, um, and some just by conditions that we've been dealing with in the US. So you're seeing flows going into into developed market and emerging market exposures. You're seeing a shift, um, a little bit from equity and going into the short end of the fixed income, uh, markets, particularly the ultra short. Again, that's a bit defensive. You're still getting decent yield, uh, but you're not as exposed to, you know, big moves in in sort of market pricing. So that's been positive, but you also are seeing some interesting spots of life, um, high yield, uh, where where there's still this view of, um, depending on which way the markets go, it's still important to generate income for the portfolio. And so we're seeing some flows go back into high yield. And then we're seeing your normal safe havens like gold. Uh, gold flows have also spiked up in the last few weeks.
Yeah, that's going to be fascinating to watch. We've seen gold coming back in just a bit this morning as we get a little bit of a risk-on bid in markets here. Just curious if you can talk about bonds versus cash has been on my mind over the past couple of days here. To what extent are you finding investors acting a bit skittish on the bond market at this moment?
I think, you know, the what we saw over the, uh, I think, you know, we we talked about it earlier, it's sort of that, um, you know, uh, buy the rumor, sell the news. And so this this feeling of like, okay, the treasuries are being dumped and we're seeing equities go down, we're seeing treasuries go down. But, you know, the the view I think is shifting around to, we don't really know what the second half of the year is going to bring entirely. If it is a little bit softer, or if companies start to revise some of their expectations down a bit and maybe, you know, if there is a deal reached, that that won't be the reality. But bonds still provide good buoyancy in the portfolio, shifting into that fixed income posture, taking advantage of some of these yields, um, is a place that you would naturally go to if you think there's going to be a slowdown in growth.
It's interesting to see that treasuries catching just a bit of a bid as we are getting that risk-on sentiment in markets, maybe investors, uh, taking an opportunity to sell a bit of stock in the rally, get into treasuries if they weren't. Interesting to see how that market action plays out on the tape. No, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.