ETF Investors Ride Market Volatility

Aug 28, 2015

Reviewed by: Cinthia Murphy

Edited by: Cinthia Murphy

In one of the most turbulent weeks global markets have seen in recent years, it's no surprise investors yanked assets from equity ETFs, particularly international equity funds, which bled more than $6.2 billion in five days.

Emerging market ETFs were directly in the line of fire as concerns about slowing global growth and an uncertain outlook for China mounted. The two largest ETFs in the segment, the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO | B-88) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM | B-100), saw redemptions of more than $1 billion each.

The outflows came as the Chinese stock market plunged some 15 percent in the five days ended Thursday, Aug. 27. Other markets were also hit. Japan slipped some 7 percent in a week; European stocks dropped about 2 percent, while the S&P 500 plunged nearly 10 percent at one point before bouncing back to end the five-day stretch with a 2.3 percent loss.

A roster of U.S. sector ETFs and large-cap funds was also among the week's largest redemptions.

But considering the amount of volatility investors faced as global markets corrected this week, combined equity ETF outflows of about $9 billion aren't all that bad, especially considering equity mutual funds saw their biggest weekly redemptions in nearly eight months, according to CNBC.

If ETF investors rode the volatility relatively well, they tightened their grip on the safety of U.S. fixed income—a segment that received $3.5 billion in fresh inflows. The most popular bond fund in the past five days was the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV | A-96), which gathered more than $1 billion in fresh net assets. That's a 45 percent increase in its asset base.

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
IWM	iShares Russell 2000	1,118.79	25,537.34	4.58%
SHV	iShares Short Treasury Bond	1,036.54	3,308.10	45.63%
SPY	SPDR S&P 500	976.70	168,328.97	0.58%
XIV	VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short Term ETN	862.46	1,154.14	295.68%
XLE	Energy Select SPDR	760.22	11,835.59	6.86%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500	552.82	34,020.21	1.65%
SVXY	ProShares Short VIX Short-Term Futures	459.10	569.76	414.87%
BIL	SPDR Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill	452.42	1,896.50	31.33%
SHY	iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond	398.80	11,675.36	3.54%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500	350.97	67,160.67	0.53%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
VWO	Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets	-1,067.74	39,074.99	-2.66%
EEM	iShares MSCI Emerging Markets	-1,036.77	20,824.79	-4.74%
XLF	Financial Select SPDR	-942.69	18,008.01	-4.97%
XLV	Health Care Select SPDR	-693.58	14,391.86	-4.60%
RSP	Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight	-543.99	9,854.04	-5.23%
MDY	SPDR S&P MidCap 400	-497.70	15,011.25	-3.21%
XLY	Consumer Discretionary Select SPDR	-445.19	10,260.07	-4.16%
XLK	Technology Select SPDR	-421.89	11,420.14	-3.56%
XLI	Industrial Select SPDR	-349.06	6,279.87	-5.27%
IVW	iShares S&P 500 Growth	-338.17	12,596.65	-2.61%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	-3,789.84	1,087,601.82	-0.35%
International Equity	-6,219.82	467,924.35	-1.33%
U.S. Fixed Income	3,570.40	307,780.64	1.16%
International Fixed Income	-133.73	25,550.84	-0.52%
Commodities	545.23	50,643.11	1.08%
Currency	3.82	1,286.45	0.30%
Leveraged	1,061.88	21,471.07	4.95%
Inverse	971.94	20,072.20	4.84%
Asset Allocation	-65.60	5,429.51	-1.21%
Alternatives	-146.70	3,922.69	-3.74%
Total:	-4,202.43	1,991,682.67	-0.21%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
BTAL	QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta	86,424	491,411	568.61%
EXT	WisdomTree Total Earnings	12,822	69,673	543.38%
HEWI	iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Italy	96,832	513,426	530.22%
ITF	iShares Japan Large-Cap	50,760	267,973	527.93%
IQDY	FlexShares International Quality Dividend Dynamic	24,869	130,024	522.84%
AGZD	WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Zero Duration	52,276	253,099	484.16%
BLV	Vanguard Long-Term Bond	254,719	1,197,374	470.08%
LEMB	iShares Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond	99,084	460,607	464.86%
PWC	PowerShares Dynamic Market	6,664	28,718	430.95%
CEW	WisdomTree Emerging Currency	35,464	152,740	430.69%

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
CVOL	C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN	49.75%	2,717,729	5.12
VXX	iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN	40.24%	854,429,298	1,377.11
VIIX	VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN	39.57%	2,234,368	13.52
VIXY	ProShares VIX Short-Term	39.24%	25,660,001	143.22
CCX	WisdomTree Commodity Currency	27.29%	1,910	6.27
VXUP	AccuShares Spot CBOE VIX Up Shares	23.87%	1,343,737	1.40
VIIZ	VelocityShares VIX Mid Term ETN	14.38%	21,761	0.67
VIXM	ProShares VIX Mid-term	13.57%	414,152	28.89
VXZ	iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN	13.51%	5,458,308	53.54
AMZA	InfraCap Active MLP	6.57%	197,301	20.63

Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
ASHS	Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap ETF	-19.10%	868,919	33.15
SGDJ	Sprott Junior Gold Miners	-16.98%	131,345	20.13
SILJ	PureFunds ISE Junior Silver (Small Cap Miners/Explorers)	-14.60%	49,931	3.53
CNXT	Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext	-14.26%	1,004,273	30.21
SGDM	Sprott Gold Miners	-13.26%	472,103	111.64
RING	iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners	-12.95%	908,917	44.72
GDX	Market Vectors Gold Miners	-12.83%	497,309,717	4,538.29
GDXJ	Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners	-12.83%	93,391,640	1,201.98
PSAU	PowerShares Global Gold and Precious Metals	-12.53%	249,595	17.37
GLDX	Global X Gold Explorers	-12.41%	269,768	24.73

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
RODI	Barclays Return on Disability ETN	0.75	-1.00	26.47
DXJH	WisdomTree Japan Hedged Health Care	0.28	0.63	14.43
BBP	BioShares Biotechnology Products	0.26	2.59	29.61
CNXT	Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext	0.23	-7.87	30.21
XBI	SPDR S&P Biotech	0.21	3.37	2,323.49
PSCH	PowerShares S&P SmallCap Health Care	0.18	-0.20	271.69
EIRL	iShares MSCI Ireland Capped	0.18	2.26	131.77
EDEN	iShares MSCI Denmark Capped	0.17	1.10	48.74
DXJF	WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials	0.16	2.47	29.64
MOM	QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Momentum	0.16	-0.13	1.33

Bottom 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
GAZ	iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN	-0.45	-3.51	10.79
FCG	First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas	-0.39	6.87	183.64
BRF	Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap	-0.39	0.55	73.60
EWZS	iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap	-0.39	-1.10	26.98
PSCE	PowerShares S&P SmallCap Energy	-0.39	2.83	35.39
KOL	Market Vectors Coal	-0.38	1.45	60.38
JJN	iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN	-0.38	-1.61	6.38
ICOL	iShares MSCI Colombia Capped	-0.37	-2.71	13.28
BRXX	EGShares Brazil Infrastructure	-0.37	0.44	9.50
PLTM	First Trust ISE Global Platinum	-0.37	-5.91	6.21

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.

Cinthia Murphy

| Contact: [email protected]

Cinthia Murphy is head of digital experience, advocating for the user in all that etf.com does. She previously served as managing editor and writer for etf.com, specializing in ETF content and multimedia. Cinthia’s experience includes time at Dow Jones and former BridgeNews, covering commodity futures markets in Chicago and Brazil equities in Sao Paulo. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

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ETF Investors Ride Market Volatility

ETF Investors Ride Market Volatility

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