ETF Inflows March Higher Despite Rising Yields

Senior ETF Analyst

Oct 23, 2020

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

A modest sum of new cash entered U.S.-listed ETFs this week as stocks held steady and bonds sold off. On net, ETFs had net inflows of $6.7 billion during the week ending Thursday, Oct. 22. That brings year-to-date inflows up to $359.1 billion, ahead of the $218.6 billion seen at this same time a year ago.

Rates In Focus

This week's inflows were split relatively evenly across the various asset classes, though U.S. fixed income ETFs received the largest share (as they have throughout much of the year). This was despite a notable sell-off in Treasury bonds this week. The 10-year Treasury yield briefly hit 0.87%, its loftiest level since early June (bond prices and yields move inversely).

Nevertheless, investors put money to work in fixed income funds like the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and the Vanguard Total International Bond ETF (BNDX).

This is not to say that investors were completely dismissive of the rise in yields. The iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF (IGBH), a bond fund that attempts to hedge out interest rate risk, saw its assets surge from $35 million to more than $550 million this week.

Outflows From the Q's

On the other side of the ledger, the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) topped the outflows list with redemptions of more than $2 billion. Prices for the fund dipped this week as some of the megacap tech stalwarts pulled back.

The First Trust Capital Strength EF (FTCS), which holds stocks of companies with low debt and high returns on equity, took the No. 2 spot on the weekly outflows list, with redemptions of $1.6 billion.

The iShares Gold Trust (GLD), with outflows of $644 million, was another noteworthy fund on the outflows list.

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	3,834.39	298,660.00	1.28%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	1,467.95	171,191.55	0.86%
BBMC	JPMorgan BetaBuilders U.S. Mid Cap Equity ETF	1,019.30	1,027.64	99.19%
VXUS	Vanguard Total International Stock ETF	851.64	29,006.33	2.94%
ESGE	iShares ESG MSCI EM ETF	555.41	4,687.82	11.85%
BNDX	Vanguard Total International Bond ETF	476.46	33,776.44	1.41%
IGBH	iShares Interest Rate Hedged Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF	425.15	556.57	76.39%
VNQ	Vanguard Real Estate ETF	418.31	28,666.64	1.46%
DIA	SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust	397.93	23,700.92	1.68%
BND	Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	395.64	63,555.16	0.62%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	-2,087.56	138,725.77	-1.50%
FTCS	First Trust Capital Strength ETF	-1,566.92	6,249.21	-25.07%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	-891.89	41,983.73	-2.12%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	-644.51	78,273.34	-0.82%
IGIB	iShares 5-10 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	-597.07	10,917.09	-5.47%
BBEU	JPMorgan BetaBuilders Europe ETF	-351.88	4,690.19	-7.50%
PZA	Invesco National AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF	-324.86	2,353.43	-13.80%
IWR	iShares Russell Mid-Cap ETF	-315.64	21,402.60	-1.47%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	-287.92	164,422.17	-0.18%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	-277.07	220,018.64	-0.13%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	1,552.34	2,722,625.79	0.06%
International Equity	1,622.29	892,634.23	0.18%
U.S. Fixed Income	3,591.04	938,798.54	0.38%
International Fixed Income	1,179.31	113,107.55	1.04%
Commodities	-1,112.14	149,911.59	-0.74%
Currency	-83.23	1,900.56	-4.38%
Leveraged	8.84	38,470.79	0.02%
Inverse	-215.50	13,604.63	-1.58%
Asset Allocation	65.13	12,056.25	0.54%
Alternatives	121.63	5,511.83	2.21%
Total:	6,729.71	4,888,621.76	0.14%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	95,235.92	2,722,625.79	3.50%
International Equity	22,076.93	892,634.23	2.47%
U.S. Fixed Income	160,709.53	938,798.54	17.12%
International Fixed Income	16,965.10	113,107.55	15.00%
Commodities	45,757.23	149,911.59	30.52%
Currency	502.05	1,900.56	26.42%
Leveraged	2,083.93	38,470.79	5.42%
Inverse	13,291.15	13,604.63	97.70%
Asset Allocation	2,273.37	12,056.25	18.86%
Alternatives	252.47	5,511.83	4.58%
Total:	359,147.67	4,888,621.76	7.35%

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

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
BDRY	Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF	9.57%	394,407	26.06
GRU	Elements MLCX Grains Index-Total Return ETN	7.03%	61,921	3.34
EPHE	iShares MSCI Philippines ETF	6.50%	268,223	113.17
COPX	Global X Copper Miners ETF	5.52%	295,908	108.11
LEND	Amplify CrowdBureau Peer-to-Peer Lending & Crowdfunding ETF	5.35%	1,976	0.35
SOCL	Global X Social Media ETF	5.12%	135,905	223.42
ECH	iShares MSCI Chile ETF	5.06%	1,473,700	401.38
JJC	iPath Series B Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return ETN	4.98%	18,024	19.03
URA	Global X Uranium ETF	4.67%	405,591	147.96
GXG	Global X MSCI Colombia ETF	4.06%	59,398	36.02

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
TAN	Invesco Solar ETF	152.37%	-3.12%	1,966.61
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution ETF	112.92%	-8.08%	2,854.34
XVZ	iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN	110.43%	0.31%	11.02
PBW	Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF	108.43%	-3.06%	962.32
QCLN	First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund	105.17%	-3.33%	756.32
ARKW	ARK Next Generation Internet ETF	103.75%	-0.68%	2,988.95
ARKK	ARK Innovation ETF	101.46%	-4.68%	10,259.19
ONLN	ProShares Online Retail ETF	88.85%	-2.04%	685.45
IBUY	Amplify Online Retail ETF	88.06%	-2.50%	1,027.17
KGRN	KraneShares MSCI China Environment Index ETF	86.53%	0.21%	16.74

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.

Sumit Roy

| Contact: [email protected]

Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com, where he has worked for 13 years. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including news articles, analysis pieces, videos and podcasts.

Before joining etf.com, Sumit was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. In those roles, he was responsible for most of the operations of HAI, a website dedicated to education about commodities investing.

Though he still closely follows the commodities beat, Sumit covers a much broader assortment of topics for etf.com, with a particular focus on stock and bond exchange-traded funds.

He is the host of etf.com’s Talk ETFs, a popular video series that features weekly interviews with thought leaders in the ETF industry. Sumit is also co-host of Exchange Traded Fridays, etf.com’s weekly podcast series.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing chess and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe.

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ETF Inflows March Higher Despite Rising Yields

ETF Inflows March Higher Despite Rising Yields

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