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.

Sumit Roy

Senior ETF Analyst

Jan 11, 2019

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

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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.

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 Start 2019 On Strong Note

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