ETF Asset Inflows Remain Strong In Sept At More Than $17B

Sep 30, 2016

Reviewed by: etf.com Staff

Edited by: etf.com Staff

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.

etf.com Staff

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