ETF Flows Slow As Stocks Peak

Investors slowed their piling into ETFs in the past week, putting in a little less than a net $12.15 billion into funds after adding a gargantuan $38 billion last week, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet.

Despite the week-over-week drop, the flows into U.S.-listed ETFs between June 18 and June 24 this year are 228% higher than the net flows of $3.7 billion recorded during the same period last year after a national resurgence of COVID-19 spooked investors to take $5.8 billion out of equity ETFs.

Approximately $6.47 trillion in assets is currently held in U.S. ETFs, compared to $4.33 trillion during the same time last year. Nearly $468 billion has flowed into ETFs this year, amounting to more than 7% of all the assets under management.

Heartbeat Trades Slow US Equities

The net inflow into U.S. equities dropped considerably week-over-week, from $27.3 million last week to $5.8 billion in the most recent period.

It’s possible the drop was due to heartbeat trades—trades designed to minimize tax liability during fund rebalancing that tend to occur at the end of a month.

Take the Vanguard Growth Fund (VUG), which led all ETFs, with net inflows of $2.83 billion last week and led outflows with $2.51 billion in the most recent period, leaving the fund with approximately $315 million in growth over the two weeks.

The redemptions didn’t hit evenly across every fund, though. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) posted inflows of $2.52 billion last week and saw outflows of $821.88 million this week, leaving it a net $1.7 billion larger.

Russell Indexed-Funds Lead

Despite the net drop in inflows, ETFs tracking Russell indexes continued to charge forward as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite reached new highs this week, with traders shaking off the Federal Reserve’s hawkish signaling last week.

The fund posting the highest inflows during the week was the iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF (IWF), with a $6.77 billion net gain. Other Russell index gainers included:

• iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (IWP): $2.32 billion net inflow
• iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF (IWN): $1.92 billion net inflow
• iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD): $1.65 billion net inflow
• Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETF (VONG): $856.17 million inflow
• iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF (IWR): $796.49 million inflow

 

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
IWF	iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	6,773.83	74,568.63	9.08%
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	4,758.14	366,491.08	1.30%
IWP	iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF	2,322.90	17,825.62	13.03%
IWN	iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF	1,923.74	18,999.05	10.13%
IWD	iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	1,650.96	55,005.79	3.00%
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	1,617.27	170,813.90	0.95%
VONG	Vanguard Russell 1000 Growth ETF	856.17	7,406.36	11.56%
IWR	iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF	796.49	30,109.55	2.65%
IYR	iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF	745.55	7,388.48	10.09%
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	714.11	23,752.92	3.01%

 

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
VUG	Vanguard Growth ETF	-2,511.82	77,698.77	-3.23%
XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-2,262.34	40,759.86	-5.55%
VO	Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF	-1,492.19	49,441.83	-3.02%
VB	Vanguard Small-Cap ETF	-1,168.24	46,769.44	-2.50%
LQD	iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	-1,010.48	39,514.37	-2.56%
VTV	Vanguard Value ETF	-954.50	81,293.44	-1.17%
RSP	Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF	-909.10	28,315.25	-3.21%
SPHQ	Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF	-838.91	2,892.20	-29.01%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	-821.88	249,765.97	-0.33%
KOMP	SPDR S&P Kensho New Economies Composite ETF	-735.63	2,106.26	-34.93%

 

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	5,808.25	3,777,534.34	0.15%
International Equity	1,961.95	1,276,077.89	0.15%
U.S. Fixed Income	3,826.55	1,035,262.73	0.37%
International Fixed Income	288.50	141,642.37	0.20%
Commodities	-323.82	141,815.15	-0.23%
Currency	35.79	1,923.89	1.86%
Leveraged	272.68	58,817.73	0.46%
Inverse	85.31	11,935.91	0.71%
Asset Allocation	61.80	16,163.36	0.38%
Alternatives	131.31	6,444.52	2.04%
Total:	12,148.30	6,467,617.88	0.19%

 

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	224,629.58	3,777,534.34	5.95%
International Equity	135,475.54	1,276,077.89	10.62%
U.S. Fixed Income	79,280.01	1,035,262.73	7.66%
International Fixed Income	20,331.37	141,642.37	14.35%
Commodities	-502.37	141,815.15	-0.35%
Currency	32.24	1,923.89	1.68%
Leveraged	677.59	58,817.73	1.15%
Inverse	3,875.11	11,935.91	32.47%
Asset Allocation	1,983.59	16,163.36	12.27%
Alternatives	2,133.37	6,444.52	33.10%
Total:	467,916.02	6,467,617.88	7.23%

 

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
BDRY	Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF	262.08%	2.99%	103.22
ILCV	iShares Morningstar Value ETF	129.48%	1.66%	714.11
PSCE	Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF	86.04%	7.41%	217.42
FCG	First Trust Natural Gas ETF	84.43%	7.28%	293.70
PXE	Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF	83.38%	7.14%	92.51
PXI	Invesco DWA Energy Momentum ETF	76.28%	6.91%	211.37
FRAK	VanEck Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF	72.83%	6.99%	19.16
MLPO	Credit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN	69.79%	14.51%	24.99
GRN	iPath Series B Carbon ETN	67.54%	4.89%	58.08
XOP	SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF	67.20%	7.00%	4,445.68

 

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.