Bond ETFs Fuel $6B Of Weekly ETF Outflows

ETFs like ‘JNK,’ ‘LQD’ and ‘EMB’ were responsible for this week’s outflows.

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sumit
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Senior ETF Analyst
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Reviewed by: Sumit Roy
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Edited by: Sumit Roy

Another week of volatility led to outflows from U.S.-listed ETFs. According to FactSet, $6.1 billion exited ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Feb. 15, on top of the $18.9 billion of outflows last week.

This time, the market volatility was to the upside. The S&P 500 was up as much as 5% from last Friday to this Friday, but that didn’t stop investors from pulling $6.7 billion from U.S. equity ETFs.

U.S. fixed-income ETFs registered outflows of $3.1 billion, as bonds sold off and yields rose. The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield reached a four-year high of 2.93% during the middle of the week after the government released reports showing inflation rising faster than expected.

Even after two weeks of hefty outflows, ETFs are still holding on to respectable year-to-date inflows of $46 billion, as long-term investors remain unfazed by the recent bout of volatility in financial markets.

SPY & Bond ETFs Lose Favor

Just like last week, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was the biggest victim of the outflows from ETFs. Investors pulled $4.8 billion out of the fund this week. Currently, the fund has year-to-date outflows of $7.8 billion, a sharp change of fortune for the fund that had year-to-date inflows of $13.6 billion as recently as the end of January.

Other notable ETFs to find themselves on the top outflows list for the week include the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) and the iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger, a pair of Vanguard ETFs topped the inflows list: the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), each with creations of more than $850 million.

The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-bill ETF (BIL) and the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV) also saw interest as investors searched for safe assets with minimal interest rate risk.

The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) also pulled in a notable $610 million during the week.

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

 

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
VUGVanguard Growth ETF881.5532,560.102.78%
VOOVanguard S&P 500 ETF851.5687,645.230.98%
IEFAiShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF810.0950,558.601.63%
BILSPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF726.982,852.8034.20%
GDXVanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF610.067,789.828.50%
SMHVanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF552.761,457.0561.13%
IVViShares Core S&P 500 ETF552.47152,402.900.36%
VTVanguard Total World Stock ETF469.0211,798.444.14%
XTiShares Exponential Technologies ETF409.272,115.2923.99%
SHViShares Short Treasury Bond ETF396.839,127.624.55%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust-4,818.52270,937.34-1.75%
QQQPowerShares QQQ Trust-1,648.8259,343.36-2.70%
JNKSPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF-1,562.428,569.60-15.42%
LQDiShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF-1,532.8132,941.65-4.45%
IWMiShares Russell 2000 ETF-996.7040,666.95-2.39%
EMBiShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF-874.0911,632.38-6.99%
XLPConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund-873.767,189.63-10.84%
HYGiShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF-750.4414,771.75-4.83%
VNQVanguard Real Estate ETF-651.5929,384.24-2.17%
XLIIndustrial Select Sector SPDR Fund-601.3013,143.71-4.37%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

 Net Flows ($, mm)AUM ($, mm)% of AUM
U.S. Equity-6,738.051,930,374.87-0.35%
International Equity3,947.47836,289.850.47%
U.S. Fixed Income-3,015.71515,887.63-0.58%
International Fixed Income-353.0261,828.31-0.57%
Commodities 93.3968,768.300.14%
Currency38.471,366.222.82%
Leveraged702.4635,853.191.96%
Inverse-633.4313,717.47-4.62%
Asset Allocation9.558,891.060.11%
Alternatives-77.374,493.95-1.72%
Total:-6,026.233,477,470.86-0.17%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

TickerNameAverage Volume
(30 Day)
1 Week Average
Volume
% of Average
GYLDArrow Dow Jones Global Yield ETF67,589316,091467.66%
FYTFirst Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund20,92746,518222.28%
INPiPath MSCI India Index ETN8,20615,850193.15%
PSLPowerShares DWA Consumer Staples Momentum Portfolio11,40122,753199.57%
FDIVFirst Trust Strategic Income ETF17,15347,438276.56%
IYLDiShares Morningstar Multi-Asset Income ETF66,601112,280168.59%
AGGYWisdomTree Barclays Yield Enhanced U.S. Aggregate Bond Fund111,205183,515165.02%
PBSPowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio25,04750,407201.25%
GLTRETFS Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares44,739140,267313.52%
IQLTiShares Edge MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF46,13653,673116.34%

 

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 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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