$20B Flows Into ETFs In Strong Week

The U.S.-listed ETF industry added just shy of a net $20 billion in new assets between Oct. 29 and Nov. 4, as the leading equity indexes continue to break new highs.

The decline from last week’s $26 billion in inflows was primarily due to flows into U.S. equity funds falling by approximately $8 billion, and was partially offset by an additional $1 billion coming into international equity ETFs, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet.

Taper Tantrum? What Taper Tantrum?

The Federal Reserve signaled the winding down of its pandemic-era program of buying $120 billion per month in corporate bonds and mortgage-backed securities well in advance of the announcement after its meeting this week, and markets were unfazed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit another record high of 36,157 points on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 closed at 4,699 points on Thursday.

The broad market funds continued to dominate inflows on the week, with the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) leading, with $3.6 billion added. Following behind were the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which added $1.5 billion, $1.9 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

A handful of sector-specific ETFs also appeared among the top 10 funds by inflow during the week. The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) added just under $1 billion as the Fed gave more hints on when it would consider a rate increase. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) and SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (XBI) added $920 million and $537 million,  respectively.

Topping the outflow leaderboard was the SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY), which lost more than $1 billion to redemptions in the period.

Diverging Bond Markets

U.S. fixed income ETFs added $2.9 billion during the week, but with different directions for some of the most popular bond funds.

The iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) continued its streak by losing $1 billion during the period, as the Bank of America corporate bond yield index spent its first full week above 2.1% since early June. The iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) fared better, losing only $412 million during the period.

The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) found itself gaining $950 million during the week, and the rush into Treasury-protected bond funds continued, with the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP) adding $602 million.

The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) lost $478 million during the week, while the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) added $641 million, which is interesting given how similar they are.

Leveraged Tech Suffers

Although investors pulled $1.4 billion out of the leveraged ETF asset class during the week, the majority of losses were concentrated in two funds.

The ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) lost $884 million during the week, while the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL) lost $574 million.

For a full list of this week’s top ETF inflows and outflows, see the tables below:

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 10 YTD Performers

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.