Equity ETFs See Massive Outflows
An astronomical $22 billion flowed out of equity ETFs last week, as familiar post-crash jitters took hold.
An astronomical $22 billion flowed out of equity ETFs last week, as familiar post-crash jitters took hold.
An astronomical $22 billion flowed out of equity ETFs last week, as familiar post-crash jitters took hold.
Investors pulled more than $22 billion from equities-focused ETFs last week, $19 billion of it from U.S. equities strategies, as markets went into a familiar post-2008-crash “risk-off” mode in the wake of choppy economic data that have renewed concerns about the global recovery.
The flip side of that exodus from equities was powerful inflows into sundry fixed-income ETFs—the latest sign in the post-crash era that investors are willing to make peace with paltry yields at the first signs of trouble. Bond ETFs pulled $11.26 billion.
Overall, investors yanked $9.79 billion from ETFs in the week ended Thursday, Feb. 6, pulling down total U.S.-listed ETF assets by 4 percent to $1.625 trillion, according to data compiled by ETF.com.
The dramatic pivot in ETF flows is a case of back to the future for post-financial crisis investors, who rode the S&P 500 Index up about 30 percent on last year's prevailing risk-on sentiment. But markets have fallen to 4.1 percent so far in 2014 as economic data has turned dodgy.
From weak December and January labor-market gains to strong fourth-quarter gross domestic product output in the fourth quarter of 2013, investors are rushing back to the safety of bond funds, in a repetition of a risk-on/risk-off pattern that has prevailed in financial markets pretty much since Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in September 2008.
To be clear, the concern is global in scope, spanning worries about flagging growth in other developed markets such as Japan and Europe, and reflecting concerns that an asset-price bubble in the emerging markets over the past five years may be deflating.
So, investors are fleeing equities and buying bond funds spanning the yield curve and credit quality.
The iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond (SHY | A-97) led all bond funds, raking in $3.7 billion last week, bringing its total assets up to $11.86 billion. On the contrary, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-97) was the least popular ETF last week, redeeming $8.63 billion, bringing its assets down to $144 billion.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond | 3,702.67 | 11,863.80 | 45.37% |
IEI | iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond | 3,639.12 | 6,187.83 | 142.78% |
UST | ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury | 2,817.17 | 2,808.98 | -34,359.97% |
CSJ | iShares 1-3 Year Credit Bond | 864.05 | 12,971.05 | 7.14% |
BND | Vanguard Total Bond Market | 584.24 | 19,286.29 | 3.12% |
TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond | 582.32 | 3,316.50 | 21.30% |
LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond | 474.76 | 16,269.99 | 3.01% |
MDY | SPDR S&P MidCap 400 | 420.98 | 14,501.80 | 2.99% |
IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond | 378.78 | 4,385.43 | 9.45% |
SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond | 363.79 | 2,755.75 | 15.21% |
Top 8 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | -8,626.27 | 144,063.74 | -5.65% |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 | -3,182.92 | 47,185.81 | -6.32% |
IJH | iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap | -2,934.26 | 19,434.69 | -13.12% |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 | -1,727.39 | 23,088.51 | -6.96% |
MVV | ProShares Ultra MidCap 400 | -1,524.44 | 154.09 | -90.82% |
SSO | ProShares Ultra S&P 500 | -1,431.63 | 1,668.40 | -46.18% |
XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select SPDR | -1,235.32 | 5,041.85 | -19.68% |
EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets | -1,194.58 | 30,645.05 | -3.75% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | -19,092.90 | 865,857.09 | -2.21% |
International Equity | -2,718.18 | 381,622.52 | -0.71% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 11,255.72 | 242,733.26 | 4.64% |
International Fixed Income | 2.56 | 20,638.92 | 0.01% |
Commodities | 32.36 | 64,158.76 | 0.05% |
Currency | 20.23 | 2,032.55 | 1.00% |
Leveraged | 73.62 | 19,793.70 | 0.37% |
Inverse | 1,032.91 | 21,034.74 | 4.91% |
Asset Allocation | -27.26 | 3,867.78 | -0.70% |
Alternatives | -366.11 | 3,352.64 | -10.92% |
Total: | -9,787.03 | 1,625,091.95 | -0.60% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
UST | ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treasury | 2,529,575 | 75,337,482 | 595.65% |
TENZ | PIMCO 7-15 Year U.S. Treasury | 26,018 | 711,112 | 546.64% |
IEI | iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond | 1,458,660 | 38,673,137 | 530.26% |
MVV | ProShares Ultra MidCap 400 | 1,421,717 | 34,658,466 | 487.56% |
EFZ | ProShares Short MSCI EAFE | 104,344 | 2,424,152 | 464.65% |
SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond | 2,752,013 | 63,151,086 | 458.94% |
IBCC | iSharesBondTM 2018 Corporate ex-Financials Term | 3,616 | 73,632 | 407.31% |
UCI | ETRACS CMCI Total Return ETN | 96,393 | 1,921,538 | 398.69% |
RYH | Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Health Care | 32,997 | 645,258 | 391.10% |
FEM | First Trust Emerging Markets AlphaDex | 464,936 | 9,087,600 | 390.92% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
JO | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return ETN | 23.97% | 3,077,591 | 165.51 |
CAFE | iPath Pure Beta Coffee ETN | 22.18% | 373,529 | 9.68 |
VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | 15.75% | 299,833,397 | 748.34 |
VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | 15.75% | 1,424,076 | 11.20 |
VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | 15.70% | 17,384,781 | 215.94 |
JJS | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Softs Total Return ETN | 11.88% | 8,700 | 6.83 |
GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | 11.83% | 39,690 | 1.50 |
SGG | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Total Return ETN | 9.75% | 119,838 | 29.28 |
VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-term | 9.67% | 624,786 | 60.72 |
VIIZ | VelocityShares VIX Mid Term ETN | 9.65% | 209,099 | 2.07 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -9.80% | 2,094,285 | 38.94 |
DXJS | WisdomTree Japan Hedged SmallCap Equity | -8.28% | 235,178 | 66.22 |
UNG | United States Natural Gas | -7.98% | 151,486,346 | 760.49 |
JSC | SPDR Russell/Nomura Small Cap Japan | -7.77% | 26,570 | 77.86 |
SCJ | iShares MSCI Japan Small-Cap | -7.67% | 152,672 | 127.20 |
DBJP | db X-trackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity | -7.30% | 878,258 | 415.17 |
DFJ | WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend | -7.27% | 215,742 | 272.27 |
DXJ | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity | -7.11% | 55,245,719 | 11,451.69 |
JPP | SPDR Russell/Nomura PRIME Japan | -6.37% | 154,876 | 126.87 |
EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan | -6.22% | 236,987,226 | 12,935.13 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
BXDB | Barclays Short B Leveraged Inverse S&P 500 TR ETN | 58.35 | 9.36 | 2.27 |
TVIX | VelocityShares Daily 2X VIX Short Term ETN | 56.12 | 32.70 | 162.81 |
UVXY | ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures | 55.81 | 32.67 | 172.45 |
UGAZ | VelocityShares 3X Long Natural Gas ETN | 46.96 | -26.88 | 81.37 |
JNUG | Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bull 3X | 44.57 | -6.94 | 28.45 |
BRZS | Direxion Daily Brazil Bear 3x | 43.46 | -0.32 | 3.63 |
RUSS | Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3X | 41.75 | -2.64 | 7.92 |
YANG | Direxion Daily FTSE China Bear 3X | 40.75 | 6.58 | 18.30 |
BOIL | ProShares Ultra DJ-UBS Natural Gas | 36.18 | -17.07 | 46.75 |
KORZ | Direxion Daily South Korea Bear 3X | 34.08 | 1.99 | 1.57 |
Bottom 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
DGAZ | VelocityShares 3X Inverse Natural Gas ETN | -60.09 | 12.99 | 284.89 |
JDST | Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bear 3X | -45.91 | 4.85 | 10.42 |
KOLD | ProShares UltraShort DJ- UBS Natural Gas | -41.83 | 10.88 | 64.72 |
BRZU | Direxion Daily Brazil Bull 3x | -34.60 | -1.67 | 5.31 |
YINN | Direxion Daily FTSE China Bull 3X | -33.87 | -7.14 | 80.55 |
RUSL | Direxion Daily Russia Bull 3X | -33.52 | 0.64 | 16.51 |
LBJ | Direxion Daily Latin America Bull 3X | -32.50 | -2.03 | 15.80 |
DUST | Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bear 3X | -29.88 | 10.00 | 191.83 |
KORU | Direxion Daily South Korea Bull 3x | -29.09 | -2.80 | 2.00 |
EDC | Direxion Daily Emerging Markets Bull 3x | -27.75 | -1.02 | 309.94 |
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.