INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Investors are fleeing the largest exchange-traded fund tracking US financial stocks at the fastest monthly pace on record, having withdrawn
more than $3.5 billion from it through December 24.
Outflows from the $21 billion Financial Select SPDR Fund, or XLF, are driving the record
billion SPDR SP Regional Banking ETF, which tracks an equal-weighted portfolio of banks stocks
XLF is more diversified, with 49 per cent of its holdings in banks, and about 32 per cent in insurance companies.
Financials are the worst
performing among 11 SP 500 industry groups in December, falling 16 percent in the midst of pressures ranging from disappointing loan growth
to a flattening yield curve to slowing global growth
The KBW Bank Index is down 19 per cent this month and is on track for a 21 per cent decline this quarter, which would be its worst since a
27 per cent decline in the three months ended September 2011.
As of Monday, XLF had logged almost three weeks of lower consecutive closing
