## [# ETF Investors Piling Into Equity ETFs](/sections/weekly-etf-flows/etf-investors-piling-equity-etfs)
# ETF Investors Piling Into Equity ETFs
Despite growing calls for a correction, equity funds—particularly U.S. stocks—are popular.
[](/contributors/cinthia-murphy)
[By Cinthia Murphy](/contributors/cinthia-murphy)
Jul 11, 2014
Edited by: Cinthia Murphy
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Despite growing calls for a correction, equity funds—particularly U.S. stocks—are popular.
Investors poured nearly $4 billion into U.S.-listed ETFs in the past week, the bulk of which landed in risk-assets; namely, U.S. and international equity funds. The flows, particularly into U.S equity ETFs, came despite what seems to be a growing call for a significant market correction.
Pundits like Marc Faber, for example, are reportedly talking of an asset bubble that’s not only about to burst, but about to unleash a full-out bear market in stocks. Yale Prof. Robert Shiller has been warning of highly overvalued U.S. stocks for months now.
Consider that since it bottomed out in March 2009, the S&P 500 has now rallied nearly 200 percent to near a new record level of 2,000 in recent days—a rally some argue is fueled more by easy money policies than actual fundamental strength.
Just this morning, the National Association of Business Economics reported that a survey of economists slashed U.S. GDP growth projections to 1.6 percent for 2014, from a previous 2.5 percent, according to the [Associated Press](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/economists-downgrade-forecasts-us-growth-040306069.html). But the report also said that they are generally “optimistic” about the economy.
**Plenty Buying Into Rally Nonetheless**
For now, it seems there are plenty of investors who believe in this ongoing rally in stocks, pouring more than $1.66 billion in net new assets into U.S. equity ETFs alone in the past week, helping push total U.S.-listed ETF assets to $1.862 trillion.
Funds linked to broad-based [large-cap U.S. equities](/Equity_U_S_Large_Cap) indexes such as the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were particularly popular. The [SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-98)](/SPY) attracted nearly $3 billion in net inflows, while the competing [iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV | A-98)](/IVV) raked in $425 million in the past five days ended Thursday, July 10, according to our data.
The [PowerShares QQQ (QQQ | A-42)](/QQQ) gathered $1.13 billion in the week—a 2.5 percent AUM jump for the biggest Nasdaq-linked fund, which now boasts $45.2 billion in total assets.
**Demand For Broad Emerging Market Exposure**
Similarly popular were [emerging-market-linked ETFs](/Equity_Emerging_Markets_Total_Market), which have been coming back into vogue in recent months. The two behemoths in the segment—the [iShares MSCI Emerging Market ETF (EEM | B-100)](/EEM) and the [Vanguard FTSE Emerging Market ETF (VWO | C-90)](/VWO)—were both found among the week’s 10 most popular ETFs, raking in a net of $395 million and $307 million, respectively.
**US Small-Cap Stocks On Losing End**
What investors were not particularly keen on was exposure to the [U.S. small-cap segment](/Equity_U_S_Small_Cap), as represented by the Russell 2000.
Perhaps investor preference for U.S. large-cap over small-cap exposure betrays uncertainty about the true health of the U.S. economy. Small-caps are often thought of as more reflective of domestic themes. In the past 12 months, the Russell 2000 has lagged the S&P 500 by nearly 6 percentage points, as the chart below comparing a Russell 2000 ETF and an S&P 500 ETF shows.
*Chart courtesy of* [*StockCharts.com*](/stockcharts.com)
The [iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM | A-81)](/IWM) bled nearly 5 percent of its total assets in the past five-day period as investors yanked more than $1.33 billion from the fund. IWM was, in fact, the least popular ETF in the past week.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % ChangeSPYSPDR S&P 5002,988.57172,876.481.76%QQQPowerShares QQQ1,133.9545,271.152.57%IVViShares Core S&P 500425.1457,077.970.75%EEMiShares MSCI Emerging Markets395.6840,812.660.98%VWOVanguard FTSE Emerging Markets307.2347,548.530.65%DBCPowerShares DB Commodity Tracking230.445,873.064.08%VOOVanguard S&P 500222.5119,655.621.15%USCIUnited States Commodity196.29827.9531.08%GLDSPDR Gold164.9534,466.130.48%EWJiShares MSCI Japan159.6214,752.801.09%Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % ChangeIWMiShares Russell 2000-1,330.5325,882.61-4.89%IYJiShares U.S. Industrials-405.691,361.44-22.96%FXGFirst Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX-368.481,409.49-20.72%IYRiShares U.S. Real Estate-363.004,541.54-7.40%XLIIndustrial Select SPDR-360.599,942.85-3.50%FXHFirst Trust Health Care AlphaDEX-324.432,066.82-13.57%XLVHealth Care Select SPDR-247.819,818.11-2.46%FXRFirst Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX-231.27947.21-19.62%USTProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury-203.7126.92-88.33%SSOProShares Ultra S&P 500-195.131,790.39-9.83%ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm)AUM ($, mm)% of AUM**U.S. Equity**1,664.361,014,545.660.16%**International Equity**1,620.35449,032.110.36%**U.S. Fixed Income**-54.15253,014.07-0.02%**International Fixed Income**117.8824,867.100.47%**Commodities**640.3468,947.250.93%**Currency**-15.361,700.89-0.90%**Leveraged**-37.0121,860.13-0.17%**Inverse**-4.9320,637.03-0.02%**Asset Allocation**46.454,913.570.95%**Alternatives**-31.043,002.37-1.03%**Total:****3,946.89****1,862,520.18****0.21%**Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
TickerNameAverage Volume
(30 Day)1 Week Average
Volume% of AverageVNQIVanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate478,00311,226,466469.72%IWXiShares Russell Top 200 Value27,049628,607464.79%EWKiShares MSCI Belgium Capped125,8702,393,047380.24%PWBPowerShares Dynamic Large Cap Growth42,381785,234370.56%NFOGuggenheim Insider Sentiment24,475439,500359.14%IFSMiShares Developed Small-Cap ex North America8,195136,052332.04%RYJGuggenheim Raymond James SB-1 Equity51,268842,719328.75%HYSPIMCO 0-5 Year High Yield Corporate Bond520,2958,290,031318.67%LDURPIMCO Low Duration5268,308315.88%TUZPIMCO 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury22,014289,470262.99%Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
TickerNameWeekly PerformanceWeekly VolumeAUM ($, mm)QDEMMarket Vectors MSCI Emerging Markets Quality Dividend10.38%1,0735.42EEHELEMENTS Linked to SPECTRUM Large Cap U.S. Momentum ETN9.19%1,0970.94IDXJMarket Vectors Indonesia Small Cap7.75%274,7387.16EIDOiShares MSCI Indonesia7.44%5,025,504530.33IDXMarket Vectors Indonesia6.69%1,061,592234.85QATiShares MSCI Qatar Capped5.62%34,13633.68UBMETRACS CMCI Industrial Metals Total Return ETN5.29%2,4004.84GDXJMarket Vectors Junior Gold Miners5.08%36,651,4702,490.27HEVYiPath Pure Beta Industrial Metals ETN4.74%1,1930.69GLDXGlobal X Gold Explorers4.63%278,84753.81Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
TickerNameWeekly PerformanceWeekly VolumeAUM ($, mm)PGALGlobal X FTSE Portugal 20-9.76%420,63322.48FUEELEMENTS MLCX Biofuels Total Return ETN-9.69%21,8490.96GRNiPath Global Carbon ETN-9.23%5,0821.76SCIFMarket Vectors India Small-Cap-9.04%1,222,542402.24SCINEGShares India Small Cap-8.72%338,38032.02CTNNiPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN-7.25%10,3982.04XBISPDR S&P Biotech-7.07%2,479,2331,114.38GREKGlobal X FTSE Greece 20-6.83%1,757,375243.80INXXEGShares India Infrastructure-6.73%476,45663.81GAZiPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN-6.62%213,36726.36Top 10 YTD Performers
TickerNameYTD PerformanceWeekly PerformanceAUM ($, mm)JNUGDirexion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bull 3X93.2115.52202.98NUGTDirexion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X71.401.38813.91SOXLDirexion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X69.55-1.36116.99DRNDirexion Daily Real Estate Bull 3x62.431.7095.50INDLDirexion Daily India Bull 3X60.60-11.9764.57DDPPowerShares DB Commodity Short ETN52.522.152.23GLDXGlobal X Gold Explorers52.184.6353.81SCIFMarket Vectors India Small-Cap51.04-9.04402.24SILJPureFunds ISE Junior Silver (Small Cap Miners/Explorers)49.052.439.00AGAPowerShares DB Agriculture Double Short ETN47.709.712.10Bottom 10 YTD Performers
TickerNameYTD PerformanceWeekly PerformanceAUM ($, mm)JDSTDirexion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bear 3X-83.69-17.3072.80DUSTDirexion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X-63.68-3.56248.86CVOLC-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN-61.183.135.28TVIXVelocityShares Daily 2X VIX Short Term ETN-60.407.22161.41UVXYProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures-60.297.68284.76DGAZVelocityShares 3X Inverse Natural Gas ETN-56.5617.43339.15SOXSDirexion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X-48.560.8421.25GASXDirexion Daily Natural Gas Related Bear 3X Shares-44.359.548.64DRVDirexion Daily Real Estate Bear 3x-42.79-1.2111.33TVIZVelocityShares Daily 2X VIX Mid Term ETN-39.910.151.04Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
[ Cinthia Murphy ](/contributors/cinthia-murphy)
Cinthia Murphy is head of digital experience, advocating for the user in all that etf.com does. She previously served as managing editor and writer… [View Bio](/contributors/cinthia-murphy)
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