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• Tom Dorsey: ‘ETF Alchemy’ Is The Future
• April ETF Short Report: GLD Shorts Rise 83%
• March ETF Short Report: EEM Shorts Up 59%

• EEM 83% Rate It
• GLD 77% Rate It
• IEI 0% Rate It
• SPY 54% Rate It
• VWO 100% Rate It

Investors poured $30.77 billion into ETFs in January, more than the $29 billion in the same year- earlier period and the most since the $37 billion in inflows recorded in September of last year. Overall, assets in U.S.-listed ETFs rose 5.5 percent to $1.423 trillion, just shy of an all-time record.

Around $29 billion of those flows were into equities, and well over half of that figure was focused on international equity ETFs, such as the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca:EEM), which topped the inflows list, according to data compiled by IndexUniverse.

EEM added $3.37 billion in new assets and the fund ended the month with $52.13 billion in total assets. In the No. 3 spot on the creations list was the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets Index ETF (NYSEArca:VWO). It added $1.38 billion in assets and ended the first month of 2013 with $61.43 billion in assets.

The big surprise last month was the $1.14 billion the WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca DXJ) pulled in last month. The ETF's total assets nearly doubled, to $2.45 billion, a function of rising global equity markets and the fact that the fund has emerged as the go-to option for investors looking to insulate returns from the yen's sharp weakening versus the dollar over the past few months.

A general risk-on sentiment prevailed last month amid strengthening views that maybe-just maybe-financial markets and the economy are finally starting to normalize after a volatile five-year period following the market collapse in September 2008. To be sure, perils remain-not least of which is the unpredictable political situation in Washington, D.C. But a cautious optimism is coming to the fore.

Exit From Gold And Bonds

The world's biggest bullion ETF, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca:GLD), was No. 2 on the outflows list last month, shedding $1.20 billion in assets. The fund ended January with $71 billion in assets, as prices of the yellow metal ended the month slightly lower after see-sawing a bit along the way-a signal that, at the very least, the gold rally of the past 12 years is on hold for now.

While fixed income as an asset class had net inflows of $1.8 billion last month, a number of individual bond ETFs peppered the top redemptions list in a sure sign of the upward pressure on bond yields and downward pressure on bond prices as confidence returns in the overall economic outlook.

For example, the iShares Barclays 3-7 Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca:IEI) suffered outflows of more than $1 billion, or about half of its total end-of-month assets of $2.04 billion. IEI was the No. 3 ETF on the redemptions list.

At the top of the redemptions list was the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca:SPY), which dropped $4.37 billion in assets in January. The first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund and the now the biggest ETF in the world celebrated its 20 ^th anniversary on Jan. 29. It ended the month with more than $125 billion in assets.

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