Equity ETFs See Inflows Despite Sell-Off
Investors plowed money into equity ETFs even as the S&P 500 sold off significantly this week.
Despite a rough week for stock markets, investors poured billions of dollars into U.S. and international equity exchange-traded funds this week. At the same time, they pulled money from fixed-income ETFs, particularly corporate bond funds.
The S&P 500 lost 2.6 percent in the week ending Thursday, Nov. 12, yet U.S. stock ETFs saw inflows of $4.6 billion in the period, while international stock ETFs had inflows of $2.4 billion. The iShares Russell 1000 (IWB | A-95) was the biggest asset gainer, with $2.4 billion, followed by the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA | A-95), with inflows of $1 billion.
Investors in these ETFs shrugged off concerns about a potetial Fed rate hike in December and weak retail sales that roiled the stock market all week long. Instead, they opted to use the pullback as a buying opportunity.
However, there were several equity ETFs that saw sizable outflows. Most of these were sector funds, such as the Industrial Select SPDR (XLI | A-91) and the Utilities Select SPDR (XLU | A-88), with outflows of $750 million and $500 million, respectively.
In terms of fixed income, outflows from corporate bond ETFs such as the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK | B-68) and the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD | A-77) offset a big inflow into the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG | A-98). JNK lost $900 million, LQD lost $480 million and AGG gained $1.2 billion. Overall, U.S. fixed-income ETFs saw net outflows of $1.1 billion.
In total, U.S.-listed ETFs of all segments saw inflows of $6.8 billion, sending assets to $2.1 trillion.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IWB | iShares Russell 1000 | 2,381.33 | 14,912.97 | 19.00% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond | 1,222.97 | 28,764.88 | 4.44% |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE | 1,020.19 | 8,278.98 | 14.05% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | 883.27 | 177,576.35 | 0.50% |
| EFA | iShares MSCI EAFE | 689.66 | 57,857.04 | 1.21% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 | 594.70 | 27,576.42 | 2.20% |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average Trust | 559.46 | 12,502.91 | 4.68% |
| FXE | CurrencyShares Euro | 479.43 | 827.14 | 137.88% |
| HEDJ | WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity | 421.47 | 20,889.67 | 2.06% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 | 385.13 | 38,784.46 | 1.00% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| JNK | SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond | -897.35 | 10,847.26 | -7.64% |
| XLI | Industrial Select SPDR | -744.09 | 6,444.39 | -10.35% |
| XLU | Utilities Select SPDR | -510.18 | 5,820.77 | -8.06% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond | -481.81 | 23,423.78 | -2.02% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond | -453.67 | 8,337.93 | -5.16% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold | -347.71 | 23,138.76 | -1.48% |
| EWT | iShares MSCI Taiwan | -334.80 | 2,885.22 | -10.40% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond | -292.58 | 15,200.95 | -1.89% |
| XLP | Consumer Staples Select SPDR | -284.93 | 7,651.11 | -3.59% |
| XLF | Financial Select SPDR | -276.07 | 18,519.76 | -1.47% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 4,570.86 | 1,164,208.14 | 0.08% |
| International Equity | 2,359.65 | 487,672.08 | 0.10% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | -1,101.81 | 326,757.22 | -0.07% |
| International Fixed Income | 146.26 | 26,727.53 | 0.11% |
| Commodities | -26.56 | 48,029.41 | -0.01% |
| Currency | 589.04 | 1,956.70 | 7.61% |
| Leveraged | 420.79 | 22,798.42 | 0.36% |
| Inverse | -249.60 | 19,985.48 | -0.25% |
| Asset Allocation | 51.69 | 5,410.01 | 0.19% |
| Alternatives | 5.79 | 3,278.82 | 0.04% |
| Total: | 6,766.11 | 2,106,823.82 | 0.06% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| GII | SPDR S&P Global Infrastructure | 26,252 | 103,831 | 395.52% |
| TUTT | Tuttle Tactical Management U.S. Core | 27,618 | 52,332 | 189.49% |
| IOO | iShares Global 100 | 32,584 | 75,526 | 231.79% |
| DSUM | PowerShares Chinese Yuan Dim Sum Bond | 43,379 | 125,004 | 288.17% |
| FTSL | First Trust Senior Loan | 85,993 | 153,289 | 178.26% |
| VCR | Vanguard Consumer Discretionary | 218,150 | 339,047 | 155.42% |
| GNR | SPDR Global Natural Resources | 254,712 | 322,459 | 126.60% |
| SPXH | Janus Velocity Volatility Hedged Large Cap | 5,236 | 8,461 | 161.58% |
| ALFA | AlphaClone Alternative Alpha | 45,141 | 60,335 | 133.66% |
| VNQI | Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate | 285,439 | 407,409 | 142.73% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | 13.91% | 391,324 | 3.33 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | 11.56% | 816,301 | 8.34 |
| VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | 11.50% | 269,880,956 | 997.79 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | 11.42% | 8,173,521 | 112.54 |
| VXUP | AccuShares Spot CBOE VIX Up Shares | 8.29% | 18,293 | 2.30 |
| VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-term | 5.93% | 103,189 | 28.64 |
| VXZ | iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN | 5.77% | 1,122,041 | 55.40 |
| ASHS | Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap ETF | 5.20% | 427,096 | 37.59 |
| CNXT | Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext | 2.91% | 459,835 | 63.20 |
| DXJH | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Health Care | 2.67% | 123,412 | 12.07 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| PLTM | First Trust ISE Global Platinum | -12.21% | 66,326 | 5.03 |
| COPX | Global X Copper Miners | -11.84% | 211,432 | 16.65 |
| FCG | First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas | -11.62% | 11,353,041 | 210.39 |
| CU | First Trust ISE Global Copper | -10.78% | 38,451 | 13.02 |
| GAZ | iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | -10.67% | 272,456 | 6.59 |
| YGRO | RBC ETNs Linked to Yorkville MLP Distribution Growth Leaders Liquid PR Index | -10.60% | 16,959 | 20.49 |
| TAN | Guggenheim Solar | -10.54% | 622,490 | 240.74 |
| NINI | iPath Pure Beta Nickel ETN | -9.89% | 2,237 | 0.81 |
| PGM | iPath Bloomberg Platinum Subindex Total Return ETN | -9.51% | 5,938 | 8.58 |
| PICK | iShares MSCI Global Metals & Mining Producers | -9.47% | 1,014,140 | 82.50 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| CNXT | Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext | 48.66% | -0.90% | 63.20 |
| DXJH | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Health Care | 32.93% | 1.27% | 12.07 |
| ASHS | Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap ETF | 32.48% | 2.69% | 37.59 |
| FDN | First Trust Dow Jones Internet | 23.12% | -1.54% | 4,608.05 |
| MOM | QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Momentum | 20.07% | 1.29% | 4.10 |
| PNQI | PowerShares NASDAQ Internet | 18.88% | -2.04% | 255.08 |
| DXJF | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials | 17.88% | 0.57% | 26.99 |
| GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | 16.90% | -1.79% | 3.26 |
| DXJS | WisdomTree Japan Hedged SmallCap Equity | 16.34% | -0.95% | 196.93 |
| CHOC | iPath Pure Beta Cocoa ETN | 16.17% | 2.76% | 9.37 |
Bottom 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| GAZ | iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | -66.67% | -6.94% | 6.59 |
| CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | -56.13% | 12.97% | 3.33 |
| PLTM | First Trust ISE Global Platinum | -49.46% | -12.21% | 5.03 |
| XME | SPDR S&P Metals and Mining | -47.76% | -6.40% | 216.70 |
| FCG | First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas | -47.42% | -10.53% | 210.39 |
| KOL | Market Vectors Coal | -46.69% | -5.10% | 51.20 |
| JJN | iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN | -42.44% | -3.36% | 5.89 |
| EWZS | iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap | -41.87% | 0.12% | 27.74 |
| BRF | Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap | -41.86% | -0.49% | 75.89 |
| YMLP | Yorkville High Income MLP | -40.90% | -8.13% | 127.06 |
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.
