According to Pensions & Investments' annual survey of index managers, worldwide indexes managed in exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes have fared much better than index assets in other wrappers. Worldwide index assets managed in ETFs and ETNs totaled $6.51 trillion as of June 30th, down 4.8% from $6.84 trillion last year. Worldwide index assets overall fell 12.7% to $18.23 trillion. Exchange-traded products continued to see strong inflows despite headwinds such as inflation, rate hikes, and stock and bond losses. In fact, the global ETF industry saw its 40th straight month of net inflows during September and is on pace for annual net inflows that will be second to only last year's record of $1.29 trillion according to research and consultancy firm ETFGI LLP. Emily Foote McKinley, Head of Institutional Specialists for ETFs and Indexed Strategies at Invesco Ltd explained why ETFs continue to see strong inflows this year. She told Pensions & Investments, "I think that we've always seen the biggest pickups in institutional usage of ETFs around and after times of severe market volatility. That's because the ETF wrapper is able to prove itself as a provider of liquidity and access and transparency to underlying markets in times of crisis."

Finsum:ETFs continue to see massive inflows this year despite market volatility due to the wrapper’s ability to provide institutional investors with liquidity and transparency. 

Seems volatility hunkered down with a good book in front of a roaring fireplace and felt well at home this month.

During October, implied volatility was unfailingly hovered well above average. In fact, it hit its highest monthly average since June 2020, according to gia.com. Down to the nitty gritty: half of the days parked beyond the first two weeks of the months experienced swings in the equity market of at least +/- 2%. Joining the party was an Oct. 13 intra-day move exceeding 5%. That unfolded before the gales of an advance in the midst of the months’ second half.

As for next year? Um, don’t ask. According to msn.com, with investors updating their economic outcome probabilities, UBS Global Wealth Management recently said investors should figure on even more volatility in the 2023 S&P.

"Large month-to-month swings could continue well into next year," said UBS.

In all probability, wide monthly S&P 500 swings will stretch in 2023. Why? Investors will watch moves by the Fed and economic data to ascertain the chances of a soft landing or recession in the U.S.

"[Expect] more volatility and large market swings exacerbated by positioning as investors update their economic outcome probabilities in reaction to each new data point and Fed utterance," Jason Draho, head of Asset Allocation Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management, in a note.

Merrill Lynch scooped up a four-person Citi Private Bank team that manages $1 billion in client assets. The team, which is based in Connecticut and New York is led by Frank A. Falco, who will be based out of Merrill’s Great Neck office on Long Island. The rest of the team includes Kevin C. Condon, John R. Huber, and Alexandra Maksimow, who will be based out of its Stamford, Connecticut office. Members of the team joined Merrill Lynch on a staggered schedule over the past couple of months after serving out their garden leave terms. Falco spent 22 of his 25 years in the industry with Citi. He started his career at Gaines, Berland Inc. in 1997. Condon had been with Citi for the previous seven years and started his career in 1992 as a portfolio manager with U.S. Trust. Huber had been with Citi since 2007 and started in the business at Prime Capital Services in 2005. Maksimow began her Citi career in 2012 as a credit analyst in the commercial bank before switching to the private bank in 2016. The move is noteworthy since the team is coming from the private banking channel and not the wealth management channel. However, Merrill has occasionally pulled in other salaried private bankers in recent years despite its freeze on veteran broker recruiting since 2017.

Finsum:Merrill Lynch nabbed a $1 billion team from Citi Private Bank despite its freeze on veteran broker recruiting.