ETF Asset Inflows Remain Strong In Sept At More Than $17B
Investors added almost $8 billion into U.S.-listed ETFs in the latest week.
Demand for U.S.-listed ETFs finished September on a positive note. Inflows into all ETFs totaled nearly $8 billion in the week ending Thursday, Sept. 29, according to FactSet, pushing inflows for the month to around $17 billion. Assets under management in all ETFs is now $2.42 trillion, up from $2.07 trillion at the start of the year amid a combination of inflows and price appreciation.
In the latest week, U.S. equity ETFs accounted for the bulk of inflows, gathering $6.2 billion. In contrast, international equity ETFs had outflows of $1.4 billion.
U.S. fixed-income ETFs saw inflows of $2.9 billion; international fixed-income ETFs saw inflows of $220 million; and commodity ETFs saw inflows of $40 million.
Junk Bond ETFs In Vogue
In terms of individual ETFs, two junk bond products were popular. The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) had inflows of $833 million and $564 million, respectively.
Also seeing interest was the Real Estate Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE), with inflows of $446 million. Earlier in September, real estate became a stand-alone sector outside of financials, giving a boost to XLRE's asset base.
Meanwhile, energy ETFs were in focus this week, after OPEC unexpectedly cut production on Wednesday. The news sent crude oil prices soaring almost 8% to $48, and fueling outsized gains in the various energy ETFs. The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) was a big beneficiary of the OPEC cut. It rallied almost 10% between Wednesday and Friday, and had inflows of $429 million in the week ending Thursday.
EAFE ETFs Bled Assets
On the outflows side, the Deutsche X-trackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF (DBEF) continued to bleed assets. DBEF had outflows of nearly $1 billion, matching last week's outflows of just over $1 billion. The iShares MSCI EAFE ETF (EFA) was another EAFE-focused fund that had big outflows, to the tune of $567 million.
Both ETFs have heavy exposure to Japan and Europe, which are regions that have been out of favor with investors for months now. This week's news that Deutsche Bank, one of Europe's largest banks, was struggling and could need government assistance to survive, only further dampened sentiment for these ETFs.
Other notable losers this week included the Vanguard Financials Index Fund (VFH), with outflows of $459 million, or 12.4% of assets, and the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (SMH), with outflows of $204 million, or 27.8% of its assets.
For a full list of this week's top inflows and outflows, see the tables below.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 1,817.53 | 199,167.76 | 0.92% |
HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 1,000.98 | 16,631.49 | 6.40% |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 833.99 | 28,848.79 | 2.98% |
JNK | SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | 564.04 | 12,261.65 | 4.82% |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 459.05 | 79,698.61 | 0.58% |
XLRE | Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund | 446.22 | 3,292.68 | 15.68% |
XOP | SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF | 428.71 | 2,290.36 | 23.03% |
LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 404.58 | 33,162.62 | 1.24% |
XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund | 297.18 | 9,549.22 | 3.21% |
AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 291.80 | 41,705.29 | 0.70% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
DBEF | Deutsche X-trackers MSCI EAFE Hedged Equity ETF | -986.72 | 7,946.22 | -11.05% |
EFA | iShares MSCI EAFE ETF | -566.45 | 59,375.64 | -0.94% |
VFH | Vanguard Financials Index Fund | -458.63 | 3,236.19 | -12.41% |
SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -374.03 | 10,605.39 | -3.41% |
TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -369.04 | 7,263.23 | -4.84% |
DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | -229.39 | 12,461.03 | -1.81% |
SMH | VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF | -204.05 | 528.11 | -27.87% |
EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | -182.38 | 14,187.65 | -1.27% |
HEDJ | WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund | -176.46 | 9,134.49 | -1.90% |
HEFA | iShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF | -161.78 | 3,141.38 | -4.90% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | 6,216.78 | 1,331,123.75 | 0.47% |
International Equity | -1,361.26 | 510,538.03 | -0.27% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 2,873.54 | 408,144.84 | 0.70% |
International Fixed Income | 223.77 | 41,566.67 | 0.54% |
Commodities | 44.22 | 74,505.00 | 0.06% |
Currency | 14.21 | 1,346.73 | 1.06% |
Leveraged | -170.42 | 24,671.59 | -0.69% |
Inverse | 137.21 | 19,684.18 | 0.70% |
Asset Allocation | 13.69 | 6,429.43 | 0.21% |
Alternatives | 0.33 | 4,500.27 | 0.01% |
Total: | 7,992.07 | 2,422,510.50 | 0.33% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
AUNZ | WisdomTree Australia & New Zealand Debt Fund | 264,286 | 1,857,232 | 702.73% |
SMIN | iShares MSCI India Small Cap ETF | 30,454 | 158,846 | 521.60% |
DIVC | C-Tracks ETN - Miller/Howard Strategic Dividend Reinvestor | 603 | 2,550 | 422.55% |
IBCD | iShares iBonds Mar 2020 Term Corporate ex-Financials ETF | 26,533 | 105,087 | 396.05% |
RYE | Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Energy ETF | 58,203 | 217,792 | 374.19% |
GNMA | iShares GNMA Bond ETF | 37,355 | 79,200 | 212.02% |
GSIE | Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta International Equity ETF | 74,055 | 136,653 | 184.53% |
ILB | PIMCO Global Advantage Inflation-Linked Bond Active ETF | 6,468 | 36,674 | 566.96% |
GEX | VanEck Vectors Global Alternative Energy ETF | 2,838 | 5,885 | 207.32% |
PTNQ | Pacer Trendpilot 100 ETF | 13,030 | 24,584 | 188.66% |
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.