ETF Inflows Start 2019 On Strong Note
During the new year's first full week of trading, ETFs saw net inflows of $8.1 billion.
After a strong 2018, ETF flows started the new year on a positive note. For the first full week of 2019, U.S.-listed ETFs witnessed inflows of $8.1 billion, adding to the $315.4 billion worth of inflows from last year, the second-largest annual haul ever.
Year-to-date inflows now stand at $12.6 billion after seven trading sessions.
Credit Rallies
The latest weekly data, which captures flows for the week ending Thursday, Jan. 10, showed that the largest share of inflows headed for U.S. fixed income ETFs. Beaten-down corporate and emerging market bond funds were the biggest winners.
The iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB) each had weekly inflows of $848 million or more.
In contrast, relatively safe Treasury and short-term bond ETFs weren’t nearly as popular. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and the Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV) both made the top outflows list.
‘QUAL’ Inflows Offset By Others
Other than fixed income, the other area to garner favor from investors this week was international equity. ETFs tied to that asset class picked up $3.4 billion in new money, with $862 million of that making its way into the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG).
On the flip side, U.S. equity ETFs didn’t get much love from investors this week. A net $2.2 billion flowed out of the segment, even as the iShares Edge MSCI U.S.A. Quality Factor ETF (QUAL) picked up a sizable $1.5 billion in fresh cash.
That was more than offset by outflows from the likes of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF).
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QUAL | iShares Edge MSCI U.S.A. Quality Factor ETF | 1,518.46 | 8,492.21 | 17.88% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 995.84 | 31,015.23 | 3.21% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 960.09 | 14,388.95 | 6.67% |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 862.33 | 51,799.33 | 1.66% |
| EMB | iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF | 848.10 | 15,404.09 | 5.51% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 628.98 | 21,066.98 | 2.99% |
| USFR | WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund | 586.95 | 1,789.35 | 32.80% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 458.73 | 57,769.21 | 0.79% |
| SMH | VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF | 450.47 | 1,156.29 | 38.96% |
| IWV | iShares Russell 3000 ETF | 418.77 | 9,576.11 | 4.37% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,814.02 | 244,488.08 | -0.74% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -788.06 | 23,673.96 | -3.33% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -738.02 | 9,144.52 | -8.07% |
| BSV | Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF | -714.41 | 27,212.55 | -2.63% |
| VGT | Vanguard Information Technology ETF | -616.52 | 17,131.62 | -3.60% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -612.85 | 62,478.60 | -0.98% |
| XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund | -512.42 | 11,777.66 | -4.35% |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value ETF | -430.99 | 14,933.71 | -2.89% |
| IWD | iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | -424.51 | 38,416.10 | -1.11% |
| FLOT | iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF | -342.73 | 10,920.09 | -3.14% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -2,209.29 | 1,954,325.23 | -0.11% |
| International Equity | 3,444.18 | 768,243.04 | 0.45% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 5,280.10 | 604,209.06 | 0.87% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,168.00 | 67,404.53 | 1.73% |
| Commodities | 348.29 | 64,601.83 | 0.54% |
| Currency | -84.78 | 1,699.15 | -4.99% |
| Leveraged | -548.53 | 32,773.01 | -1.67% |
| Inverse | 709.91 | 12,036.42 | 5.90% |
| Asset Allocation | -19.15 | 9,646.55 | -0.20% |
| Alternatives | 35.03 | 5,050.36 | 0.69% |
| Total: | 8,123.75 | 3,519,989.17 | 0.23% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -6,233.34 | 1,954,325.23 | -0.32% |
| International Equity | 5,310.09 | 768,243.04 | 0.69% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 10,632.72 | 604,209.06 | 1.76% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,377.41 | 67,404.53 | 2.04% |
| Commodities | 770.97 | 64,601.83 | 1.19% |
| Currency | -107.71 | 1,699.15 | -6.34% |
| Leveraged | -468.28 | 32,773.01 | -1.43% |
| Inverse | 1,262.00 | 12,036.42 | 10.48% |
| Asset Allocation | 51.91 | 9,646.55 | 0.54% |
| Alternatives | -11.75 | 5,050.36 | -0.23% |
| Total: | 12,584.02 | 3,519,989.17 | 0.36% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| ARCM | Arrow Reserve Capital Management ETF | 856 | 2,751 | 321.32% |
| XRLV | Invesco S&P 500 ex-Rate Sensitive Low Volatility ETF | 57,236 | 158,206 | 276.41% |
| DEF | Invesco Defensive Equity ETF | 39,063 | 97,742 | 250.22% |
| VGIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Treasury Index ETF | 810,110 | 1,894,874 | 233.90% |
| DMRI | DeltaShares S&P International Managed Risk ETF | 3,421 | 6,850 | 200.23% |
| BEMO | Aptus Behavioral Momentum ETF | 23,950 | 45,048 | 188.09% |
| FYT | First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | 22,189 | 40,962 | 184.61% |
| ISTB | iShares Core 1-5 Year USD Bond ETF | 566,862 | 999,388 | 176.30% |
| DMRL | DeltaShares S&P 500 Managed Risk ETF | 4,433 | 7,549 | 170.26% |
| DRSK | Aptus Defined Risk ETF | 34,929 | 55,278 | 158.26% |
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.
