ETF Inflows Eclipse $715B YTD

The U.S. ETF industry has added more than $715 billion in assets over the course of 2021 so far after reaching the watermark point earlier this week.

U.S.-listed ETFs gained just under $26.5 billion in inflows in the period between Oct. 22 and Oct. 28, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet.

The U.S. ETF industry has now gained just shy of $719 billion year-to-date, and manages just under $6.93 trillion in assets overall.

Broad Equities Rally

Broad vanilla index funds dominated inflows during the period as corporate earnings continued to beat expectations despite the headwind of inflation and another surge in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. during the third quarter.

The S&P 500 flirted with a new intraday high on Tuesday, and appears set to reach a fresh closing high on Friday. Three of the top 10 funds for inflows on the week that follow the S&P 500 saw more than $12.1 billion alone.

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) led all ETFs in the period, with a gargantuan $8.5 billion in inflows compared to the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which came in second, with about $2 billion in new flows.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) added $1.97 billion, while competitor Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) added $1.7 billion. The SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY) also appeared among the top-10-gaining ETFs, with a little more than $1 billion in new assets.

Corporate Bonds Hit Hard

Investment-grade corporate bonds saw deep outflows during the period, with the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Bond ETF (LQD) and the iShares 1-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (IGSB) losing $1.4 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively.

LQD has lost a net total of $2.5 billion to outflows this month, while IGSB has lost just shy of $1.5 billion, as fears of a federal debt default and ongoing inflation likely played a role in the sell-offs.

Corporate bond spreads also increased by 5 basis points from late September into mid-October, which likely added salt to the macroeconomic wound.

On the other end, the iShares Fallen Angels USD Bond ETF (FALN) added nearly $1.2 billion in assets during the week, for a 25 percentage point gain in its overall AUM. Fallen angels are junk bonds that were lowered from investment-grade status.

Levered Plays Lose Steam

The leveraged ETF class saw $2.2 billion in outflows in the week, a steep drop-off from the $1.17 billion in inflows gained in the week prior.

The ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) accelerated in outflows, with investors pulling $949.6 million from the ETF. TQQQ was briefly a darling during the volatile early days of October, when dip-buyers sought to buy tech exposure at a discount.

The Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares (FAS) also appeared among the 10 largest outflows on the week, with almost $464 million pulled, but that appears to be caused by a second half of a heartbeat trade that began last week.

For a full list of this week’s top ETF inflows and outflows, see the tables below:

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 10 YTD Performers

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.