$9B Flows Into ETFs Amid ECB Action

A good week for financial markets fueled inflows into ETFs of all kinds. A total of $8.8 billion flowed into U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds in the week ending Thursday, March 10.

Helping performance in risk assets was a big expansion in the European Central Bank's monetary stimulus on Thursday, when the central bank increased its monthly bond purchases and cut interest rates further into negative territory.

US Equity ETFs In Favor

The bulk of this week's flows―$4.4 billion―went into U.S. equity ETFs. But it was an international equity ETF, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM | B-100), that took the No. 1 spot with an inflow of $862 million.

Following behind EEM was the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO | A-98), which gained $541 million, and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM | A-91), which gained $460 million.

Meanwhile, even as equity ETFs rallied and took in new money, investors continued to like fixed-income as well. The iShares Core U.S. Aggreate Bond ETF (AGG | A-98) had inflows of $459 million, and fixed-income ETFs as a whole had inflows of $1.7 billion in the period.

Outflows Mixed

On the outflows side, an eclectic mix of funds made the list. The Health Care Select SPDR (XLV | A-93) saw redemptions of $637 million, followed by the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ | B-97) with $467 million and the iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY | A-97) with $441 million.

Interestingly, investors took out $339 million from the iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF (EZU | A-85) despite this week's action from the ECB.

A few other notable flows-losers were the United States Oil Fund (USO | B-100) and the VelocityShares 3X Long Crude Oil ETN (UWTI), which had outflows of $269 million and $213 million, respectively. Apparently, traders took profits on USO and UWTI as they surged on the back of the jump in oil prices.

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Disclaimer: All data is from FactSet, 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.