VOO, SPY, IVV Shed Assets as Market Rout Continues

The world’s biggest exchange-traded funds have shed billions in assets in recent weeks, with the top three losing about 7% since last week’s market rout began, even as investors continue buying funds and betting markets will turn around. 

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) were all well above or hovering around $600 billion in assets, with VOO (the world’s biggest ETF) and SPY both pushing toward $650 billion before markets began tumbling around the time Donald Trump was sworn in as president.

Today, each has dipped below $550 billion, with their asset declines accelerating since April 2 when President Trump imposed tariffs on nearly all countries before pausing most of them yesterday. The three hold $1.6 trillion in assets as of Wednesday, down from more than $1.7 trillion last week. 

Those drops in assets have been slowed by billions flowing into the funds in so-called "buy the dip" bets, where investors bet markets will turn up and returns will be magnified by virtue of having bought at lower prices. 

VOO, SPY Haul in Assets Amid Market Rout

VOO, with $536.2 billion in assets, brought in $10.7 billion in the previous five days. Investors continued putting money into the fund even after it dropped 12% between April 2 and April 8.

SPY, with $526.5 billion in assets, pulled in $11.7 billion over the past five sessions, while IVV, at $515.1 billion, had $1.6 billion in outflows. 

Source: etf.com data

Strategies betting on a market turnaround since last week’s “Liberation Day” have yet to pay off. While broad stock markets soared yesterday and the Nasdaq had a double-digit percentage gain that was its biggest jump in decades, stocks fell today on fears that a trade war with China will spark a U.S. recession. 

VOO, favored by retail investors to gain low-cost exposure to broad equity markets, is down 12% so far this year.