(ETF.com) As the Fed cut rates this week and markets absorbed the fallout from the Saudi oil strike, investors took cover in equity ETFs in throngs, sending more than $23 billion in new assets to the space.
Meanwhile, U.S fixed income was abandoned to the tune of $622 million in outflows, one of the largest flows disparities between stocks and bonds we have seen in a while.
For the week ending Thursday, September 19, overall ETFs saw inflows of $23.44 billion, bringing year-to-date inflows to $196 billion. Overall assets in U.S.-listed ETFs now stand at $4.1 trillion.
Interestingly, the recent surge of inflows to equity ETFs has greatly closed the new-flows gap between fixed income and stocks ETFs. At one point this year, bond ETFs had a wide lead in new asset, some two-thirds of all new assets. After this week, U.S. fixed income ETFs so far this year have attracted $92.7 billion in inflows compared with U.S. equity’s $91.8 billion.
Large Cap Stalwarts Atop Flows
Not surprisingly, investors sought the relative safe, broad market vanilla equity funds.
Stock ETFs captured nine of the 10 top spots for inflows. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led the way, with $2.2 billion; followed by the Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF (VO), with $2.1 billion; and the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG), with $1.6 billion. The world’s largest ETF, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), captured $1.3 billion.
One fixed income ETF bucked the bond flow trend. The iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) saw $931 million in inflows.
Bond-Voyage
Investors exited midterm and long-term Treasury funds, such as the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), which saw $2 billion exit the fund; and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Intermediate Term Treasury ETF (ITE), with $945 million in outflows, more than half the fund’s AUM, leaving it with $931 million.
Outside fixed income, the First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund (FBT) saw a 32% loss of assets under management, shedding $600 million.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 2,279.59 | 189,920.31 | 1.20% |
| VO | Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF | 2,109.68 | 29,454.88 | 7.16% |
| VUG | Vanguard Growth ETF | 1,595.02 | 43,883.55 | 3.63% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 1,343.81 | 277,342.95 | 0.48% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,205.96 | 123,312.10 | 0.98% |
| VB | Vanguard Small-Cap ETF | 1,003.47 | 26,405.93 | 3.80% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 931.09 | 17,899.23 | 5.20% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 906.12 | 46,379.32 | 1.95% |
| SCHA | Schwab U.S. Small-Cap ETF | 806.78 | 9,200.39 | 8.77% |
| SCHG | Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF | 736.50 | 8,970.79 | 8.21% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -2,062.70 | 16,439.41 | -12.55% |
| ITE | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Intermediate Term Treasury ETF | -945.57 | 931.44 | -101.52% |
| FBT | First Trust NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index Fund | -599.48 | 1,878.57 | -31.91% |
| EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | -533.52 | 11,643.76 | -4.58% |
| SPTL | SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF | -519.94 | 1,892.21 | -27.48% |
| XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | -517.21 | 17,104.11 | -3.02% |
| SPYG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF | -276.10 | 5,216.26 | -5.29% |
| SPIB | SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond ETF | -269.59 | 4,832.16 | -5.58% |
| VFH | Vanguard Financials ETF | -267.15 | 7,326.87 | -3.65% |
| IYR | iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF | -264.24 | 5,001.98 | -5.28% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 23,028.70 | 2,352,227.18 | 0.98% |
| International Equity | 158.44 | 808,653.41 | 0.02% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | -622.12 | 716,603.16 | -0.09% |
| International Fixed Income | 258.63 | 81,500.13 | 0.32% |
| Commodities | 378.99 | 79,124.81 | 0.48% |
| Currency | -53.68 | 1,467.93 | -3.66% |
| Leveraged | 17.13 | 35,835.22 | 0.05% |
| Inverse | 182.47 | 12,282.76 | 1.49% |
| Asset Allocation | 7.23 | 10,187.99 | 0.07% |
| Alternatives | 86.02 | 4,610.05 | 1.87% |
| Total: | 23,441.82 | 4,102,492.63 | 0.57% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 91,488.30 | 2,352,227.18 | 3.89% |
| International Equity | -3,261.93 | 808,653.41 | -0.40% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 92,736.45 | 716,603.16 | 12.94% |
| International Fixed Income | 11,460.29 | 81,500.13 | 14.06% |
| Commodities | 6,496.29 | 79,124.81 | 8.21% |
| Currency | -320.69 | 1,467.93 | -21.85% |
| Leveraged | -7,558.98 | 35,835.22 | -21.09% |
| Inverse | 4,908.83 | 12,282.76 | 39.97% |
| Asset Allocation | 229.70 | 10,187.99 | 2.25% |
| Alternatives | 777.36 | 4,610.05 | 16.86% |
| Total: | 196,955.62 | 4,102,492.63 | 4.80% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) |
1 Week Average Volume |
% of Average |
| HUSE | Strategy Shares U.S. Market Rotation Strategy ETF | 32,848 | 110,516 | 336.45% |
| DGL | Invesco DB Gold Fund | 52,957 | 144,115 | 272.13% |
| IEUS | iShares MSCI Europe Small-Cap ETF | 15,509 | 49,078 | 316.44% |
| SGDM | Sprott Gold Miners ETF | 152,967 | 358,360 | 234.27% |
| HECO | Strategy Shares EcoLogical Strategy ETF | 12,399 | 31,078 | 250.65% |
| PSCH | Invesco S&P SmallCap Health Care ETF | 19,394 | 43,513 | 224.36% |
| GBF | iShares Government/Credit Bond ETF | 8,018 | 16,388 | 204.38% |
| RFFC | RiverFront Dynamic U.S. Flex-Cap ETF | 22,497 | 61,929 | 275.28% |
| EBND | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF | 171,803 | 373,276 | 217.27% |
| BDCS | ETRACS Linked to the Wells Fargo Business Development Company Index ETN | 11,595 | 18,713 | 161.39% |
