While SPY topped creations in the week ended May 31, inflows into TIP were, well, the tip of a fixed-income iceberg.
Despite a week of volatility and weak price action across U.S. equities markets, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: SPY)—the world's largest equities exchange-traded fund—led creations with inflows of $1.91 billion, but it was fixed income as an asset class that stole the limelight.
SPY's inflows amounted to 2 percent higher than their week-earlier level as of last Thursday, May 24. IndexUniverse's weekly flows data covers the five trading days ended May 31, which means it doesn't reflect market reaction to the clearly disappointing May jobs report released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor. The government said 69,000 jobs were created last month—far fewer than the 195,000 jobs economists had, on average, expected, according to a survey conducted by Bloomberg News.
But even before today's down move in stocks, the Dow Jones industrial average worked its way to its worst monthly performance in two years, ending May 6.2 percent lower and putting an end to a seven-month winning streak. As an asset class, U.S. equities saw inflows of $5.3 billion this past week, helping push total U.S. ETF assets up 0.6 percent on the week to almost $1.137 trillion.
But fixed income attracted a sizable $1.68 billion in new assets, as investors flocked to the safety of U.S.-linked debt as a way of protecting themselves from the uncertainties surrounding Europe's financial stability.
The iShares Barclays TIPS Bond ETF (NYSEArca: TIP) was an example of that trend, bringing in $386 million in assets in the past week.
It's worth noting that a lot of the funds in the "Top 10 Creations" list are Vanguard funds. But the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, for they are probably more reflective of Vanguard’s end-of-month portfolio rebalancing in many of its funds than a result of strong investor demand. Vanguard, as a matter of policy, doesn't comment on flows, but has told IndexUniverse in the past that many of its funds undergo rebalancings at the end of one month and the beginning of another.
Top Redemptions
Investors meanwhile took more than $226 million out of commodities ETFs as a way of expressing their concerns over the prospects of declining aggregate demand in an environment of economic uncertainty surrounding not only Europe's debt but also China's appetite for goods and services.
The Market Vectors Oil Services ETF (NYSEArca: OIH) saw outflows of $110 million. Those outflows amounted to more than 9.3 percent of its total assets as of a week ago.
The iShares FTSE China 25 ETF (NYSEArca: FXI) was another unpopular fund, bleeding nearly $95 million in assets in the past week.
Still, leading the pack in terms of outflows was the PowerShares QQQ ETF (NasdaqGM: QQQ), which gave up $773 million, or 2.5 percent, of its assets now pegged at $29.46 billion.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | 1,530.20 | 96,643.30 | 1.61% |
| XLE | Energy Select SPDR | 1,176.50 | 6,291.10 | 23.00% |
| VB | Vanguard Small-Cap | 966.50 | 4,986.41 | 24.04% |
| VO | Vanguard Mid-Cap | 563.27 | 4,047.59 | 16.17% |
| VTV | Vanguard Value | 475.55 | 6,129.72 | 8.41% |
| VBK | Vanguard Small-Cap Growth | 468.23 | 2,406.50 | 24.16% |
| EFA | iShares MSCI EAFE | 462.34 | 32,823.30 | 1.43% |
| VUG | Vanguard Growth | 446.88 | 7,494.67 | 6.34% |
| TIP | iShares Barclays TIPS Bond | 386.48 | 23,677.74 | 1.66% |
| VBR | Vanguard Small-Cap Value | 354.13 | 2,272.13 | 18.46% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QQQ | PowerShares QQQ | -773.64 | 29,459.50 | -2.56% |
| IYR | iShares Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate | -197.61 | 3,727.69 | -5.03% |
| XLI | Industrial Select SPDR | -160.20 | 3,007.79 | -5.06% |
| VXF | Vanguard Extended Market | -132.38 | 1,322.34 | -9.10% |
| XLF | Financial Select SPDR | -130.59 | 5,524.84 | -2.31% |
| OIH | Market Vectors Oil Services | -110.76 | 1,074.08 | -9.35% |
| XLV | Health Care Select SPDR | -95.92 | 4,262.81 | -2.20% |
| FXI | iShares FTSE China 25 | -94.77 | 5,256.15 | -1.77% |
| EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan | -90.37 | 4,886.78 | -1.82% |
| XLU | Utilities Select SPDR | -69.97 | 6,373.02 | -1.09% |
ETF Weekly Daily Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 5,305.17 | 518,115.79 | 1.02% |
| International Equity | -181.73 | 251,901.02 | -0.07% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 1,682.25 | 206,538.27 | 0.81% |
| International Fixed Income | 124.57 | 16,288.32 | 0.76% |
| Commodities | -226.15 | 102,860.13 | -0.22% |
| Currency | -43.13 | 3,088.66 | -1.40% |
| Leveraged | 69.93 | 12,360.32 | 0.57% |
| Inverse | 231.74 | 19,690.61 | 1.18% |
| Asset Allocation | -0.87 | 1,852.51 | -0.05% |
| Alternatives | -65.43 | 4,298.11 | -1.52% |
| Total: | 6,896.36 | 1,136,993.74 | 0.61% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) |
1 Week Average Volume |
% of Average |
| PAF | PowerShares FTSE RAFI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Portfolio | 5,190 | 76,845 | 296.16% |
| EQL | ALPS Equal Weight | 18,735 | 270,172 | 288.42% |
| EEMV | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Minimum Volatility | 77,084 | 1,040,351 | 269.93% |
| RXI | iShares S&P Global Consumer Discretionary | 13,190 | 171,950 | 260.73% |
| WPS | iShares S&P Developed Ex-US. Property | 12,489 | 150,744 | 241.41% |
| EXI | iShares S&P Global Industrials | 33,674 | 400,784 | 238.03% |
| BWZ | SPDR Barclays Capital Short Term International Treasury Bond | 38,902 | 419,679 | 215.76% |
| PPH | Market Vectors Pharmaceutical | 144,811 | 1,555,285 | 214.80% |
| RJI | ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity - Total Return ETN | 676,916 | 6,828,675 | 201.76% |
| PBP | PowerShares S&P 500 BuyWrite Portfolio | 164,273 | 1,624,180 | 197.74% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GWO | ELEMENTS Credit Suisse Global Warming ETN | 8.70% | 60,574 | 2.80 |
| FAA | Guggenheim Airline | 7.55% | 76,621 | 15.46 |
| TSXV | Global X S&P/TSX Venture 30 Canada | 6.56% | 18,006 | 2.35 |
| GASZ | ETRACS Natural Gas Futures Contango ETN | 6.25% | 24,190 | 12.20 |
| CHII | Global X China Industrials | 5.32% | 5,999 | 4.44 |
| ZROZ | PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury | 4.96% | 290,970 | 175.48 |
| EDV | Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury | 4.75% | 189,643 | 229.01 |
| AGLS | AdvisorShares Accuvest Global Long Short | 4.63% | 52,200 | 15.20 |
| CHXX | EGShares China Infrastructure | 4.46% | 121,564 | 12.18 |
| DBEF | db-X MSCI EAFE Currency-Hedged Equity | 4.45% | 52,142 | 30.97 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -13.54% | 50,581,205 | 902.65 |
| EU | WisdomTree Euro Debt | -9.63% | 11,331 | 4.19 |
| IDXJ | Market Vectors Indonesia Small Cap | -8.54% | 3,295 | 4.41 |
| EWP | iShares MSCI Spain | -7.93% | 3,658,600 | 130.63 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | -7.85% | 203,704 | 36.04 |
| EIDO | iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market | -7.29% | 972,350 | 259.40 |
| IDX | Market Vectors Indonesia | -7.26% | 4,037,008 | 442.38 |
| UBN | ETRACS CMCI Energy Total Return ETN | -6.73% | 19,600 | 2.80 |
| NAGS | Teucrium Natural Gas Fund | -6.69% | 8,175 | 3.32 |
| EMER | IQ Emerging Markets Mid Cap | -6.43% | 2,100 | 1.51 |
Disclaimer: 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.
