U.S. Stock ETFs Suck Up to $18 Billion on Election Day 2 as ‘Trump Trade’ Sparks Buying Frenzy

Following Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, traders scrambled to buy risky asset ETFs while remaining largely indifferent to the prospect of rising interest rates that threaten some of these strategies. On Wednesday, exchange-traded funds that primarily invest in U.S. equities recorded inflows of about $18 billion. That's almost 16 times the average daily inflow in 2024, according to the data. The flows largely reflect the ‘Trump trade,’ which is a bet that the president-elect will ease his regulatory stance on sectors such as banking and cryptocurrencies in favour of companies that do most of their business in the United States. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (ticker IWM), which tracks small-cap stocks, posted net inflows of $3.9 billion on Wednesday, the largest one-day inflow in more than 17 years. The SPDR S&P Regional Banks ETF (KRE) saw record inflows in a single day, while a State Street fund tracking financials attracted $1.6 billion in inflows, the highest since 2016. .