Exchange traded funds are the bomb as they play an "expanded role in portfolio construction," according to a recently released report by State Global Markets, the survey sponsor, reported pionlne.com.

Participating in the survey were 700 global institutional investors responsible for asset allocation decisions at pension funds, wealth managers, asset managers, endowments, foundations and sovereign wealth funds.

In fixed income, the outlook -- short term – is dominated by unrelenting inflation and upticks in central bank interest rates, according to ssga.com At the same time, however, investor implementation and fixed income allocations management are influenced by longer term, structural forces.   

And talk about a financial trend to swoon for. In fixed income ETFs, assets under management ballooned from $574 billion in 2017 to $1.28 trillion in 2021. Over the same time period, there was a rapid acceleration of in the number of funds -- from 278 to nearly 500.

The role of ETFs in asset allocation’s expanding to non-core sectors, the 2022 survey shows, according to the site. One example: 62% of investors who are increasing exposure to high-yield corporate credit over the next 12 months say it is likely they will use ETFs to do so, and 53% say the same for emerging-market debt.