ETF Inflows Rebound, Now $71B For Year

Stabilization in markets gave investors confidence to tiptoe back into ETFs.

Sumit Roy

Senior ETF Analyst

Apr 13, 2018

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

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A relatively stable week for the stock market gave investors the confidence to tiptoe back into U.S.-listed ETFs. A total of $13.2 billion entered the space in the week ending Thursday, April 12, according to the latest data from FactSet. Year-to-date inflows now stand at $71.2 billion.

Of this week’s inflows, $6.9 billion went into U.S. equity ETFs, as the S&P 500 crept toward the top end of its trading range around 2,660, up from less than 2,600 at its lows.

At the same time, international equity ETFs and U.S. fixed-income ETFs—areas that have been steadily taking in cash all year long—continued to be popular with investors. The former had inflows of just over $1 billion, while the latter had inflows of more than $4 billion.

The U.S. 10-year bond yield rose to 2.83%, up from 2.78% a week ago.

EM Rotation Trade

The usual suspects made up most of the top inflows list. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) took the No. 1 spot, followed by the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM).

The safe-haven SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) also found itself on the top 10. Gold prices are up 3.2% year-to-date.

Perhaps the most interesting name on the list is the PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Low Volatility Portfolio (EELV), with creations of $424 million.

A nearly equivalent amount of money—$429 million—flowed out of the PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Momentum Portfolio (EEMO), suggesting that a large investor made a rotation trade from one emerging markets ETF to the other.

The iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB) and the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK) were two other noteworthy names 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	4,265.80	252,737.70	1.72%
LQD	iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	817.60	33,095.55	2.53%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	677.10	42,289.03	1.63%
SHV	iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF	628.49	12,879.42	5.13%
HYG	iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	520.36	15,323.03	3.52%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	507.90	37,599.30	1.37%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	438.52	93,127.58	0.47%
DIA	SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust	424.25	21,082.86	2.05%
EELV	PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Low Volatility Portfolio	423.84	707.47	149.44%
IEMG	iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF	413.59	50,494.92	0.83%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
EFA	iShares MSCI EAFE ETF	-632.74	78,318.29	-0.80%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	-552.93	140,269.62	-0.39%
EEMO	PowerShares S&P Emerging Markets Momentum Portfolio	-428.95	33.12	-92.83%
EZU	iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF	-333.95	13,965.66	-2.34%
XLI	Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-312.60	12,769.31	-2.39%
BSV	Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF	-289.84	24,082.70	-1.19%
VCIT	Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF	-245.10	18,301.03	-1.32%
EMB	iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF	-224.85	11,848.35	-1.86%
XLK	Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund	-189.62	20,141.28	-0.93%
SJNK	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term High Yield Bond ETF	-188.59	3,789.04	-4.74%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	6,852.14	1,895,079.39	0.36%
International Equity	1,005.14	846,414.43	0.12%
U.S. Fixed Income	4,035.44	533,128.01	0.76%
International Fixed Income	354.60	64,055.56	0.55%
Commodities	750.10	71,508.70	1.05%
Currency	49.20	1,428.08	3.44%
Leveraged	-171.32	36,007.97	-0.48%
Inverse	141.65	13,330.57	1.06%
Asset Allocation	254.74	9,135.02	2.79%
Alternatives	-109.97	4,247.02	-2.59%
Total:	13,161.72	3,474,334.74	0.38%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
HYLV	IQ S&P High Yield Low Volatility Bond ETF	15,396	73,233	475.65%
CLRG	IQ Chaikin U.S. Large Cap ETF	78,704	267,192	339.49%
ULVM	USAA MSCI USA Value Momentum Blend Index ETF	34,786	125,002	359.35%
TFLO	iShares Treasury Floating Rate Bond ETF	32,738	123,496	377.23%
PZT	PowerShares New York AMT-Free Municipal Bond Portfolio	8,918	21,063	236.18%
CSML	IQ Chaikin U.S. Small Cap ETF	94,357	239,743	254.08%
FAN	First Trust Global Wind Energy ETF	43,773	96,468	220.38%
JPMB	JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Sovereign Bond ETF	270	452	167.09%
FRN	PowerShares Frontier Markets Portfolio	80,953	160,242	197.94%
HFXI	IQ 50 Percent Hedged FTSE International ETF	81,193	141,303	174.03%

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 Rebound, Now $71B For Year

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