ETF Inflows Pick Up Steam, Now $90B
Investors continued to tiptoe back into ETFs after a solid April.
Investors followed up on a strong month of ETF inflows in April by putting more money to work during the first week of May. Altogether, they added $3.5 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, May 3, according to FactSet. Year-to-date inflows now stand at $90.4 billion.
Just as in April, U.S. fixed-income ETFs continued to pick up new money in the first part of May, with inflows of $1.7 billion. They were only slightly edged out by U.S. equity ETFs, which picked up $1.9 billion.
Staying true to how it’s performed all year long, the U.S. stock market had another roller-coaster week. The S&P 500 briefly fell below 2,600 on Thursday before surging nearly 3% from its lows by Friday to last trade around 2,670.
Trade Concerns
Corporate earnings continued to come out strong during the period, but trade concerns lingered after a U.S. delegation to China that included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to reach a deal with its Chinese counterpart to avert a trade war. However, they promised that talks would continue in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, a Friday jobs report was met by ambivalence. The report, which showed U.S. unemployment dropped to an 18-year low of 3.9% in April, suggested the economy continues to fire on all cylinders. But it also raised the worry that the Fed may have to hike a total of four times this year to stem growing inflation pressures.
The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was essentially flat week-over-week, last trading around 2.95%.
Individual ETF Flows
No big surprises here: The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU) took the top three spots on the inflows list.
On the flip side, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM), the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) topped the weekly outflows list.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 2,243.10 | 253,286.79 | 0.89% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 743.57 | 15,167.84 | 5.16% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | 545.77 | 7,427.25 | 7.93% |
| VEA | Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 359.27 | 71,693.20 | 0.50% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | 323.27 | 9,328.62 | 3.59% |
| SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 274.44 | 12,598.54 | 2.23% |
| BSV | Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF | 249.45 | 24,202.87 | 1.04% |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value ETF | 169.56 | 15,461.83 | 1.11% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | 157.64 | 20,012.63 | 0.79% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 152.27 | 93,040.81 | 0.16% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | -869.91 | 40,817.54 | -2.09% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -673.70 | 141,229.65 | -0.47% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -525.79 | 31,546.48 | -1.64% |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | -457.19 | 20,309.98 | -2.20% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | -401.41 | 55,178.76 | -0.72% |
| XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -309.14 | 12,037.89 | -2.50% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -284.67 | 7,440.34 | -3.69% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | -236.16 | 36,282.47 | -0.65% |
| TIP | iShares TIPS Bond ETF | -213.33 | 24,351.84 | -0.87% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -202.95 | 8,599.81 | -2.31% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 1,925.85 | 1,897,519.78 | 0.10% |
| International Equity | -229.69 | 843,364.83 | -0.03% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 1,746.39 | 534,889.31 | 0.33% |
| International Fixed Income | 146.91 | 63,494.94 | 0.23% |
| Commodities | -33.86 | 70,257.86 | -0.05% |
| Currency | -14.04 | 1,403.79 | -1.00% |
| Leveraged | -45.00 | 34,865.35 | -0.13% |
| Inverse | -92.18 | 13,594.41 | -0.68% |
| Asset Allocation | -29.45 | 9,092.73 | -0.32% |
| Alternatives | 94.60 | 4,253.91 | 2.22% |
| Total: | 3,469.54 | 3,471,488.92 | 0.10% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| EDOG | ALPS Emerging Sector Dividend Dogs ETF | 16,913 | 85,565 | 505.90% |
| USEQ | PowerShares Russell 1000 Enhanced Equal Weight Portfolio | 13,029 | 49,750 | 381.83% |
| IHF | iShares U.S. Healthcare Providers ETF | 30,546 | 99,673 | 326.31% |
| USDU | WisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund | 13,696 | 35,733 | 260.91% |
| PXF | PowerShares FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-US Portfolio | 153,651 | 361,512 | 235.28% |
| AGT | iShares MSCI Argentina and Global Exposure ETF | 31,124 | 62,814 | 201.82% |
| DIV | Global X SuperDividend US ETF | 71,620 | 139,146 | 194.28% |
| USLB | PowerShares Russell 1000 Low Beta Equal Weight Portfolio | 3,578 | 6,890 | 192.54% |
| EIS | iShares MSCI Israel ETF | 9,735 | 18,011 | 185.02% |
| EEMS | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Small Cap ETF | 32,478 | 58,854 | 181.21% |
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.
