ARK's Assets Surge, Bond ETFs Bleed
Year-to-date ETF inflows topped $129 billion during the week.
The weekly inflows went primarily into U.S. and international equity ETFs, which picked up $4.7 billion and $6.1 billion in new money, respectively.
Fixed income products didn’t fare nearly as well—inflows were negligible—with investors turned off by a swift sell-off in Treasuries and investment-grade corporate bonds. The 10-year Treasury bond yield touched a one-year high above 1.36% during the week (bond prices and yields move inversely) amid rising economic growth and inflation expectations.
ARK Assets Keep Piling Up
In terms of individual ETFs, the low-cost index fund mainstays and a handful of hot ARK ETFs continued to dominate the flows charts.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) took the top three positions on the weekly inflows list.
At the same time, the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF), the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK) and the ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) each picked up between $522 million and $746 million in new cash.
ARK is currently the seventh-largest ETF issuer, with just under $60 billion in total assets under management.
Its high-flying suite of ETFs sold off modestly this week, but each of the company’s funds is up substantially on a year-to-date basis.
Fixed Income Outflows
While equity ETFs generally remained well-supported this week, fixed income ETFs faced pressure, prompting some investors to lighten up their exposure to the asset class.
Several bond, gold and utility ETFs (considered a bond proxy by some) registered steep outflows during the week.
The iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the iShares 20+Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) took the top three positions on the weekly outflows list, with redemptions ranging from $782 million to $1.91 billion.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 1,358.32 | 199,295.62 | 0.68% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 1,071.67 | 340,294.66 | 0.31% |
| VWO | Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF | 919.85 | 81,990.80 | 1.12% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 839.15 | 219,219.03 | 0.38% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 834.11 | 14,265.55 | 5.85% |
| ARKF | ARK Fintech Innovation ETF | 745.67 | 4,913.25 | 15.18% |
| ARKK | ARK Innovation ETF | 556.09 | 27,634.25 | 2.01% |
| ARKW | ARK Next Generation Internet ETF | 522.06 | 9,391.44 | 5.56% |
| BNDX | Vanguard Total International Bond ETF | 511.08 | 39,124.74 | 1.31% |
| VEA | Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 497.54 | 93,534.76 | 0.53% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | -1,910.55 | 47,552.87 | -4.02% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -1,151.00 | 14,425.09 | -7.98% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | -782.57 | 11,517.34 | -6.79% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -735.57 | 21,831.20 | -3.37% |
| EMB | iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF | -691.13 | 18,328.40 | -3.77% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -664.56 | 67,372.13 | -0.99% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | -542.15 | 64,846.86 | -0.84% |
| PFF | iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF | -499.11 | 18,198.27 | -2.74% |
| VYM | Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF | -435.09 | 32,769.11 | -1.33% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -267.30 | 159,866.00 | -0.17% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 4,694.35 | 3,343,132.57 | 0.14% |
| International Equity | 6,130.00 | 1,196,852.21 | 0.51% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 117.51 | 981,190.47 | 0.01% |
| International Fixed Income | 252.40 | 129,480.45 | 0.19% |
| Commodities | -415.49 | 141,270.71 | -0.29% |
| Currency | -33.66 | 1,987.10 | -1.69% |
| Leveraged | 141.85 | 53,107.93 | 0.27% |
| Inverse | 156.98 | 11,684.18 | 1.34% |
| Asset Allocation | 55.59 | 14,257.44 | 0.39% |
| Alternatives | 393.63 | 6,417.98 | 6.13% |
| Total: | 11,493.15 | 5,879,381.06 | 0.20% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 41,432.62 | 3,343,132.57 | 1.24% |
| International Equity | 56,389.56 | 1,196,852.21 | 4.71% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 20,234.56 | 981,190.47 | 2.06% |
| International Fixed Income | 7,197.41 | 129,480.45 | 5.56% |
| Commodities | 826.76 | 141,270.71 | 0.59% |
| Currency | 80.91 | 1,987.10 | 4.07% |
| Leveraged | -794.09 | 53,107.93 | -1.50% |
| Inverse | 2,280.77 | 11,684.18 | 19.52% |
| Asset Allocation | 574.40 | 14,257.44 | 4.03% |
| Alternatives | 1,119.04 | 6,417.98 | 17.44% |
| Total: | 129,341.93 | 5,879,381.06 | 2.20% |
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.
