Annual ETF Inflows Top $400B For 2nd Time

Senior ETF Analyst

Nov 13, 2020

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

Positive news on the coronavirus vaccine front gave investors the confidence to pile into U.S.-listed ETFs this week. On net, $32.7 billion entered the space during the week ending Thursday, Nov. 12, pushing year-to-date inflows above $400 billion. That makes 2020 only the second year in which ETFs have crossed that milestone.

In 2017, ETFs ended the year with a record $476.1 billion of inflows. For comparison, inflows stood at $246.6 billion at this same point last year.

This week also had another milestone thanks to the combination of strong inflows and rising asset prices. For the first time, assets under management in U.S.-listed ETFs surpassed $5 trillion, leaving them nearly $900 billion above where they were a year ago.

Winners & Losers

Of this week's inflows, the vast majority went into U.S. equity ETFs. That segment picked up $27.2 billion of fresh cash thanks to strong interest in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the Vanguard Total Stock market ETF (VTI) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM).

Earlier this week, the S&P 500 surged to just shy of a record high after Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate was surprisingly effective, based on preliminary data. The small cap Russell 2000 notched a new record-high close for the first time since August 2018.

While U.S. equity ETFs took in the bulk of this week's inflows, more modest sums of money headed into international equity ETFs and fixed income ETFs.

The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS), the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) were winners in those areas.

On the other hand, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) were among the biggest flows losers of the week.

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

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	11,664.84	322,383.87	3.62%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	2,020.35	181,387.23	1.11%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	1,588.57	27,420.54	5.79%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	1,405.27	48,643.92	2.89%
VXUS	Vanguard Total International Stock ETF	1,023.16	32,538.13	3.14%
BND	Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	894.00	64,559.51	1.38%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	848.18	230,203.97	0.37%
XLI	Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund	777.81	14,318.28	5.43%
XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	696.35	20,660.70	3.37%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	614.51	173,324.06	0.35%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	-1,379.20	138,554.69	-1.00%
IEF	iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF	-939.38	18,273.42	-5.14%
TLT	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	-862.94	17,659.63	-4.89%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	-780.88	74,129.59	-1.05%
XLP	Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund	-507.80	13,774.88	-3.69%
GOVT	iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF	-414.97	14,471.00	-2.87%
SHY	iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF	-397.22	20,809.92	-1.91%
HYLB	Xtrackers USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-391.15	6,861.59	-5.70%
SHV	iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF	-376.31	19,622.96	-1.92%
AGG	iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF	-364.69	80,968.36	-0.45%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	27,160.40	2,878,563.90	0.94%
International Equity	4,928.86	941,915.06	0.52%
U.S. Fixed Income	1,854.74	940,876.48	0.20%
International Fixed Income	987.74	115,595.44	0.85%
Commodities	-471.67	144,648.15	-0.33%
Currency	-33.59	1,888.90	-1.78%
Leveraged	-1,148.01	39,464.69	-2.91%
Inverse	-636.42	12,129.75	-5.25%
Asset Allocation	39.25	12,372.03	0.32%
Alternatives	39.74	5,103.14	0.78%
Total:	32,721.05	5,092,557.55	0.64%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	128,103.71	2,878,563.90	4.45%
International Equity	28,642.41	941,915.06	3.04%
U.S. Fixed Income	162,785.09	940,876.48	17.30%
International Fixed Income	18,872.51	115,595.44	16.33%
Commodities	44,774.73	144,648.15	30.95%
Currency	560.24	1,888.90	29.66%
Leveraged	1,042.09	39,464.69	2.64%
Inverse	13,039.12	12,129.75	107.50%
Asset Allocation	2,340.58	12,372.03	18.92%
Alternatives	84.49	5,103.14	1.66%
Total:	400,244.96	5,092,557.55	7.86%

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

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
FUD	ETRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Food Total Return ETN	25.95%	9,875	6.24
IEO	iShares U.S. Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF	19.79%	593,095	139.61
TUR	iShares MSCI Turkey ETF	19.52%	2,484,358	244.10
PXE	Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF	19.47%	66,963	14.70
FCG	First Trust Natural Gas ETF	19.00%	3,325,689	92.89
XOP	SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF	18.95%	42,013,798	2,028.80
RYE	Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF	18.74%	293,314	47.56
PSCE	Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF	17.66%	277,742	15.57
PXI	Invesco DWA Energy Momentum ETF	17.29%	46,383	15.92
XES	SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF	17.25%	333,763	89.68

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
TAN	Invesco Solar ETF	142.95%	-0.95%	2,115.18
QCLN	First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund	123.07%	2.22%	1,037.25
PBW	Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF	120.40%	2.43%	1,123.40
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF	118.08%	0.43%	3,301.50
ARKW	ARK Next Generation Internet ETF	104.24%	-6.02%	3,167.33
KGRN	KraneShares MSCI China Environment Index ETF	103.58%	0.18%	39.08
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	97.26%	-3.28%	10,927.75
IBUY	Amplify Online Retail ETF	88.76%	-3.98%	1,074.04
XVZ	iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN	87.73%	-2.89%	12.57
CNRG	SPDR S&P Kensho Clean Power ETF	87.25%	2.29%	103.42

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.

Sumit Roy

| Contact: [email protected]

Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com, where he has worked for 13 years. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including news articles, analysis pieces, videos and podcasts.

Before joining etf.com, Sumit was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. In those roles, he was responsible for most of the operations of HAI, a website dedicated to education about commodities investing.

Though he still closely follows the commodities beat, Sumit covers a much broader assortment of topics for etf.com, with a particular focus on stock and bond exchange-traded funds.

He is the host of etf.com’s Talk ETFs, a popular video series that features weekly interviews with thought leaders in the ETF industry. Sumit is also co-host of Exchange Traded Fridays, etf.com’s weekly podcast series.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing chess and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe.

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Annual ETF Inflows Top $400B For 2nd Time

Annual ETF Inflows Top $400B For 2nd Time

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