ETFs Gain $2.6B As Russia Rattles Markets
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has weekly flows at nearly neutral.
The outbreak of war in Europe threw markets into a deeply risk-off mood last week as U.S.-listed ETFs added just $2.6 billion in assets from Feb. 21 to Feb. 25.
According to ETF.com data provider FactSet, the U.S. ETF industry has accumulated approximately $93.8 billion in new assets year-to-date and manages $6.7 trillion.
(Partial) Flight To Safety
The top gainers of the week were a mix of growth stocks and flights into the relatively safe world of bonds.
The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) led inflows with just over $2 billion, despite the technology benchmark index dropping 5.5% last week. The triple-leveraged ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) added nearly $1.1 billion in the same period.
Semiconductors had a strong week on concerns that the Russia-Ukraine crisis would disrupt the supply of materials needed to produce sought-after chips, such as neon gas used to etch patterns into silicon. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) added $512.6 million, while the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL) took in $437.6 million.
But while the U.S. equity asset class lost $2.2 billion on the week, U.S. fixed income funds took in nearly $2.6 billion as more cautious investors looked to pull out of the risk that the conflict in Europe poses.
The iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), which led bond funds with a $1.6 billion inflow, was the lone corporate debt fund in the top 10, followed by the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV), with $1.4 billion in new assets. The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) added $565 million, while the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) took in $455 million.
SPY, Corporate Debt Lose Out
The biggest loser on the week was an outlier: the SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust (GLDM). The fund saw a massive $2.2 billion outflow last Wednesday after a quiet 12 months, amounting to almost half of its assets under management. That sale may have been a profit-taking move as the price of gold moved higher as a defensive asset in the first days of war.
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SPY continued to bleed assets by losing $1.9 billion on the week, while the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) lost $1.1 billion.
Three sector-specific ETFs also appeared on the top 10 outflows list despite being well-positioned to benefit from additional inflation pressures stemming from the conflict or the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) lost $695.5 million, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) and iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF (IYR) lost $483.5 million and $456.9 million, respectively.
Although the investment-grade LQD got plenty of love last week, investors ditched junk and short-term high quality bond funds en masse. The iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) lost just shy of $826 million, while the SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) and the Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) lost almost $600 million and nearly $405 million, respectively.
For a full list of last week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 2,026.92 | 181,466.38 | 1.12% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 1,671.62 | 34,085.61 | 4.90% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 1,447.98 | 15,740.62 | 9.20% |
| TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | 1,099.12 | 16,315.00 | 6.74% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 1,086.07 | 270,943.19 | 0.40% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 565.07 | 17,228.51 | 3.28% |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 512.66 | 8,867.14 | 5.78% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 455.08 | 15,816.14 | 2.88% |
| SOXL | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares | 437.61 | 5,480.54 | 7.98% |
| VTV | Vanguard Value ETF | 429.93 | 96,315.06 | 0.45% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| GLDM | SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust | -2,271.85 | 4,630.23 | -49.07% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,972.70 | 384,380.40 | -0.51% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -1,152.54 | 311,140.25 | -0.37% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -825.93 | 15,666.83 | -5.27% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -695.50 | 45,944.79 | -1.51% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF | -599.96 | 7,048.74 | -8.51% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | -483.54 | 34,015.05 | -1.42% |
| IYR | iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF | -456.90 | 6,335.67 | -7.21% |
| IVW | iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF | -429.70 | 33,382.96 | -1.29% |
| VCSH | Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF | -404.97 | 42,162.12 | -0.96% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -2,211.89 | 3,999,060.24 | -0.06% |
| International Equity | 2,440.62 | 1,242,321.68 | 0.20% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,584.28 | 1,065,982.39 | 0.24% |
| International Fixed Income | -72.07 | 158,243.36 | -0.05% |
| Commodities | -1,548.85 | 156,849.55 | -0.99% |
| Currency | -8.98 | 3,137.17 | -0.29% |
| Leveraged | 1,839.42 | 61,547.54 | 2.99% |
| Inverse | -91.96 | 15,325.40 | -0.60% |
| Asset Allocation | -128.21 | 19,443.98 | -0.66% |
| Alternatives | -132.09 | 7,203.48 | -1.83% |
| Total: | 2,670.27 | 6,729,114.80 | 0.04% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 43,004.32 | 3,999,060.24 | 1.08% |
| International Equity | 34,217.25 | 1,242,321.68 | 2.75% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | -5,565.06 | 1,065,982.39 | -0.52% |
| International Fixed Income | 5,087.03 | 158,243.36 | 3.21% |
| Commodities | 6,205.86 | 156,849.55 | 3.96% |
| Currency | 159.68 | 3,137.17 | 5.09% |
| Leveraged | 7,212.58 | 61,547.54 | 11.72% |
| Inverse | 2,881.42 | 15,325.40 | 18.80% |
| Asset Allocation | 387.64 | 19,443.98 | 1.99% |
| Alternatives | 188.09 | 7,203.48 | 2.61% |
| Total: | 93,778.81 | 6,729,114.80 | 1.39% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| HAPY | Harbor Corporate Culture Leaders ETF | 19,906,100.00% | 165,494 | 42,162.12 |
| BNGE | First Trust S-Network Streaming & Gaming ETF | 185.43% | 353,082 | 3.62 |
| GRU | ELEMENTS Linked to ICE BofAML Commodity index eXtra Grains - Total Return ETN | 10.94% | 193,135 | 8.86 |
| DSPC | The De-SPAC ETF | 9.33% | 58,712 | 1.41 |
| WEAT | Teucrium Wheat Fund | 8.61% | 10,856,652 | 132.37 |
| VCLO | Simplify Volt Cloud and Cybersecurity Disruption ETF | 7.92% | 43,108 | 12.71 |
| TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | 7.73% | 3,251,440 | 1,982.33 |
| RAYS | Global X Solar ETF | 7.20% | 8,440 | 8.63 |
| ICLN | iShares Global Clean Energy ETF | 6.90% | 24,914,825 | 4,721.65 |
| ACES | ALPS Clean Energy ETF | 6.42% | 252,183 | 694.71 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| GLDM | SPDR Gold MiniShares Trust | 107.70% | 0.00% | 4,630.23 |
| SARK | Tuttle Capital Short Innovation ETF | 33.41% | -4.14% | 374.53 |
| RJN | Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Energy TR ETN | 30.68% | 4.55% | 7.61 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas Fund LP | 30.42% | 3.96% | 347.83 |
| GAZ | iPath Series B Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | 29.26% | 3.79% | 12.11 |
| VXX | iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN | 29.11% | 2.42% | 971.70 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF | 28.68% | 2.25% | 368.97 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund LP | 28.24% | 4.26% | 27.03 |
| OIH | VanEck Oil Services ETF | 28.19% | 0.09% | 2,795.77 |
| SOGU | The Short De-SPAC ETF | 27.53% | -6.16% | 28.36 |
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.
