ETF Inflows Pause As Stocks Hit Records

Senior ETF Analyst

Apr 26, 2019

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

U.S. stocks hit record highs this week, but ETF investors took a breather from adding more money into the market. On net, a modest $375 million in new money entered U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, April 25.

During the period, which only encompassed four trading sessions because of the Good Friday holiday, investors pulled $2.3 billion out of U.S. equity ETFs, even as the S&P 500 notched its highest-ever closing level on Tuesday.

Offsetting those outflows were inflows of $1.7 billion and $1.4 billion, respectively, for international equity ETFs and U.S. fixed income ETFs.

Year-to-date inflows for all ETFs now stand at $76.1 billion, compared with $81.5 billion at the same time last year.

Impressive ‘TLT’ Haul

Taking the No. 1 position on the weekly inflows list was the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), with an impressive $2.1 billon haul. The 30-year Treasury bond yield slipped to the lowest level in more than two weeks, as traders anticipated the next move by the Federal Reserve would be an interest rate cut to head off overseas economic weakness.

Still, the current yield of 2.92% is above the 2.79% low set in March.

Along with TLT, the iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) and the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) saw inflows during the week.

On the other hand, the Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV) continued to shed assets. Its weekly outflows of $1.3 billion brought its year-to-date loss to $5.8 billion.

‘QQQ’ Tops Outflows List

Meanwhile, on the equity side, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) and the iShares MSCI China ETF (MCHI) were among the biggest flows winners—while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF (IWS) and the SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR) were among the biggest losers.

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
TLT	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	2,135.79	12,736.04	16.77%
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	542.51	76,177.34	0.71%
IEFA	iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF	522.29	63,595.56	0.82%
XLK	Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund	436.68	21,024.98	2.08%
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	435.55	9,182.44	4.74%
VGT	Vanguard Information Technology ETF	426.16	21,201.21	2.01%
SHY	iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF	419.38	19,585.37	2.14%
MCHI	iShares MSCI China ETF	258.03	4,911.87	5.25%
IEF	iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF	231.88	13,446.06	1.72%
QUAL	iShares Edge MSCI U.S.A. Quality Factor ETF	228.03	11,382.76	2.00%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	-3,712.31	277,838.17	-1.34%
BSV	Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF	-1,284.01	22,439.44	-5.72%
TIP	iShares TIPS Bond ETF	-755.16	20,825.32	-3.63%
IWS	iShares Russell Mid-Cap Value ETF	-512.89	11,019.00	-4.65%
RWR	SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF	-475.50	2,408.71	-19.74%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	-439.99	43,497.12	-1.01%
EMB	iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF	-415.67	15,457.14	-2.69%
IEI	iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF	-403.38	6,808.04	-5.93%
IWN	iShares Russell 2000 Value ETF	-348.74	9,140.21	-3.82%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-294.35	17,012.38	-1.73%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	-2,289.77	2,231,249.25	-0.10%
International Equity	1,672.98	839,969.82	0.20%
U.S. Fixed Income	1,351.31	642,758.94	0.21%
International Fixed Income	-221.46	73,835.21	-0.30%
Commodities	-189.42	62,075.46	-0.31%
Currency	0.00	1,479.72	0.00%
Leveraged	234.13	39,331.67	0.60%
Inverse	-177.42	11,534.81	-1.54%
Asset Allocation	18.84	9,543.09	0.20%
Alternatives	-24.57	4,746.71	-0.52%
Total:	374.61	3,916,524.68	0.01%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	23,326.31	2,231,249.25	1.05%
International Equity	11,710.72	839,969.82	1.39%
U.S. Fixed Income	35,760.43	642,758.94	5.56%
International Fixed Income	6,190.56	73,835.21	8.38%
Commodities	-1,834.30	62,075.46	-2.95%
Currency	-305.30	1,479.72	-20.63%
Leveraged	-1,753.47	39,331.67	-4.46%
Inverse	2,744.00	11,534.81	23.79%
Asset Allocation	-582.77	9,543.09	-6.11%
Alternatives	820.30	4,746.71	17.28%
Total:	76,076.47	3,916,524.68	1.94%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
GMOM	Cambria Global Momentum ETF	35,112	210,907	600.67%
FXU	First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund	253,133	1,522,125	601.31%
FXH	First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund	258,991	1,291,555	498.69%
BSCQ	Invesco BulletShares 2026 Corporate Bond ETF	43,078	155,023	359.87%
FIEE	UBS AG FI Enhanced Europe 50 ETN	1,811	5,957	328.97%
JPMF	JPMorgan Managed Futures Strategy ETF	1,579	5,147	325.99%
QQXT	First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund	3,417	8,837	258.64%
MOO	VanEck Vectors Agribusiness ETF	27,488	66,936	243.51%
IGOV	iShares International Treasury Bond ETF	125,179	301,084	240.52%
ARGT	Global X MSCI Argentina ETF	56,080	130,381	232.49%

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 Pause As Stocks Hit Records

ETF Inflows Pause As Stocks Hit Records

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