ETF Weekly Flows Show Home Bias

Sep 07, 2018

Reviewed by: Cinthia Murphy

Edited by: Cinthia Murphy

In a relatively short week due to the Labor Day holiday, investors poured a net of $3.24 billion into U.S.-listed ETFs. That’s only about a third of the total asset flows seen the week prior.

A look at the top net asset gainers in the past week show that demand was largely split into two asset classes: U.S. equity and U.S. fixed income.

Among the most popular funds were large, liquid and very-well-established strategies such as the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ).

Strong Home Bias

In the aggregate, U.S. equity ETFs have now attracted roughly 41% of total net creations in 2018, as the stock market forges new highs and investors display strong home bias in the face of positive economic data pointing to a booming, growing economy.

For U.S. fixed income, demand also went on unabated this week—the segment has taken in a net of $55 billion so far this year. Funds like the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP) led net creations.

On the flip side, gold continues to be lackluster. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) was again among the week’s biggest asset losers, having now bled a net of $3.46 billion in assets year-to-date. GLD has had a difficult time this year, as gold prices have dropped some 8.5%. Demand for the perceived safety of gold has been muted in the face of a strong stock market, strong dollar and rising rates.

The U.S. ETF market is ending this week with $3.691 trillion in total assets.

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	3,898.15	103,311.15	3.92%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	2,953.86	163,164.01	1.84%
TLT	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	1,247.93	8,737.54	16.66%
TIP	iShares TIPS Bond ETF	412.94	24,243.86	1.73%
QQQ	Invesco QQQ Trust	412.43	72,717.99	0.57%
XLK	Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund	325.04	23,026.35	1.43%
MINT	PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity Active ETF	269.88	10,371.23	2.67%
DIA	SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust	246.82	21,975.60	1.14%
IVE	iShares S&P 500 Value ETF	214.59	15,228.98	1.43%
XLE	Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund	164.16	17,883.73	0.93%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	-6,494.42	271,980.94	-2.33%
LQD	iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	-614.87	33,595.70	-1.80%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-454.42	16,730.53	-2.64%
GLD	SPDR Gold Trust	-420.71	28,725.78	-1.44%
JNK	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF	-340.06	9,380.70	-3.50%
IJR	iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF	-248.22	47,578.25	-0.52%
EWP	iShares MSCI Spain ETF	-237.33	869.78	-21.44%
SHV	iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF	-154.49	15,143.02	-1.01%
SOXX	iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF	-143.17	1,889.79	-7.04%
XBI	SPDR S&P BIOTECH ETF	-140.30	5,794.28	-2.36%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	2,810.86	2,157,258.80	0.13%
International Equity	-514.10	778,470.89	-0.07%
U.S. Fixed Income	1,323.43	568,363.65	0.23%
International Fixed Income	204.55	63,353.03	0.32%
Commodities	-331.24	58,859.62	-0.56%
Currency	-11.13	1,090.98	-1.02%
Leveraged	-107.51	36,891.87	-0.29%
Inverse	-123.57	12,864.84	-0.96%
Asset Allocation	-17.97	9,422.28	-0.19%
Alternatives	9.81	4,667.10	0.21%
Total:	3,243.13	3,691,243.07	0.09%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	72,838.37	2,157,258.80	3.38%
International Equity	35,680.59	778,470.89	4.58%
U.S. Fixed Income	55,006.68	568,363.65	9.68%
International Fixed Income	8,008.26	63,353.03	12.64%
Commodities	-1,654.35	58,859.62	-2.81%
Currency	-93.31	1,090.98	-8.55%
Leveraged	2,814.72	36,891.87	7.63%
Inverse	2,469.98	12,864.84	19.20%
Asset Allocation	629.99	9,422.28	6.69%
Alternatives	433.69	4,667.10	9.29%
Total:	176,134.59	3,691,243.07	4.77%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
PDN	Invesco FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. Small-Mid ETF	55,491	370,557	667.78%
PXF	Invesco FTSE RAFI Developed Markets ex-U.S. ETF	168,110	844,182	502.16%
PXH	Invesco FTSE RAFI Emerging Markets ETF	304,174	1,356,589	445.99%
WBIA	WBI BullBear Rising Income 2000 ETF	14,274	61,422	430.31%
EBND	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF	331,782	1,591,866	479.79%
WBIY	WBI Power Factor High Dividend ETF	96,007	390,461	406.70%
WBIE	WBI BullBear Rising Income 1000 ETF	34,894	130,984	375.38%
PXI	Invesco DWA Energy Momentum ETF	28,343	182,141	642.64%
WBIL	WBI BullBear Quality 1000 ETF	24,153	77,886	322.47%
WBIF	WBI BullBear Value 1000 ETF	25,627	81,647	318.60%

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

Ticker	Name	Weekly Performance	Weekly Volume	AUM ($, mm)
MJ	ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF	4.84%	2,752,556	500.36
SGGB	iPath Series B Bloomberg Sugar Subindex Total Return ETN	2.33%	40,900	26.01
BJO	iPath Series B Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN	1.93%	177,873	59.39
YMLI	VanEck Vectors High Income Infrastructure MLP ETF	1.92%	13,334	22.55
EWI	iShares MSCI Italy ETF	1.88%	2,701,240	410.47
PMR	Invesco Dynamic Retail ETF	1.85%	3,361	12.74
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	1.85%	39,290,445	7,699.21
RYU	Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Utilities ETF	1.73%	10,423	148.40
VPU	Vanguard Utilities ETF	1.72%	237,683	2,859.64
IDU	iShares U.S. Utilities ETF	1.71%	78,458	627.88

Top 10 YTD Performers

Ticker	Name	YTD Performance	Weekly Performance	AUM ($, mm)
PSCH	Invesco S&P SmallCap Health Care ETF	45.65%	-0.48%	1,288.84
XWEB	SPDR S&P Internet ETF	40.54%	-2.33%	57.26
XHE	SPDR S&P Health Care Equipment ETF	35.34%	-1.16%	727.50
PSJ	Invesco Dynamic Software ETF	34.20%	-2.37%	274.80
PTH	Invesco DWA Healthcare Momentum ETF	33.18%	-1.41%	318.45
ARKG	ARK Genomic Revolution Multi-Sector ETF	32.99%	-2.00%	301.68
XITK	SPDR FactSet Innovative Technology ETF	31.08%	-2.43%	66.63
XSW	SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF	30.27%	-1.63%	121.03
FINX	Global X FinTech ETF	28.79%	-2.90%	374.94
OILX	ETRACS S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETN	28.13%	0.00%	16.54

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 Weekly Flows Show Home Bias

ETF Weekly Flows Show Home Bias

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