Exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes saw $8.8 billion in net investor inflows in October, according to new data released from the National Stock Exchange. That brings total net inflows for U.S.-listed ETFs and ETNs in 2009 to $72.2 billion.

Industry assets rose slightly from $704.9 billion to $707.4 billion. The split is $699.8 billion for ETFs and $7.6 billion for ETNs.

ETNs enjoyed $656 million in net inflows, compared with $8.2 billion for ETFs.

Inflows By Asset Class: Long-Only ETFs

Inflows were seen in all major asset classes save U.S. equities in October. International equities led the way, with $7.5 billion in inflows, followed by fixed income, with $3.1 billion.

Year-to-date, fixed income, commodity and international equity ETFs lead the flows tables, with $34.6 billion, $25.0 billion and $24.4 billion in inflows, respectively. U.S. equity ETFs suffered $30.1 billion in net outflows so far this year.

Inflows By Asset Class: Leveraged/Inverse ETFs

Leveraged and inverse ETFs allow investors to make aggressive, short-term bets on the direction of the markets. Watching flows into these funds gives a good window on how investors are positioning themselves for the short term.

In October, fund flows into leveraged and inverse ETFs were decidedly bearish, with traders putting just $42 million in net new money to work in leveraged long ETFs, while investing $1.1 billion in inverse and inverse-leveraged ETFs. Year-to-date, the flows tell a similar story, with investors pulling $5.7 billion out of leveraged long funds and plowing $19.9 billion into inverse products.

Flows into inverse U.S. equity ETFs led the way in October, with bearish funds pulling down $433 million in new inflows. The only place investors pulled back money in October was from leveraged long commodity ETFs, where they removed $201 million from the pool.

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