Investors pulled a record $533mn from European-domiciled thematic ETFs in February, according to data from ETFbook. The withdrawals added to the gloom from a poor 2023, when the sector bled $1.1bn, the first annual outflow after at least a decade of net buying. The numbers would have been worse still without the allure of artificial intelligence, however.
Investors look to rotate from one to another.” As a result, the level of media coverage can propel investors out of an unpopular theme, such as clean energy, into a fashionable one, like AI. “Everybody has been talking about AI for the last two years, especially since ChatGPT was released,” Janus said. “The theme has just exploded.” Morningstar has not always been the biggest advocate for thematic investing.