ETFs See Record $52B Inflows
Domestic large caps and emerging markets led the way for flows.
The ETF industry is certainly having a happy holiday, with impressive inflows of nearly $52 billion for the week ended Thursday, Dec. 19—the largest weekly inflow on record. The amount brings the year-to-date total to $342 billion, pushing well past where the total inflows stood at the same time last year ($305 billion). Total assets for U.S.-listed ETFs now stand at $4.4 trillion, roughly $1 trillion more than where the AUM were at this time last year.
In March 2018, there was a week where U.S.-listed ETFs saw $45 billion in inflows, but this past week far surpassed that amount.
Interestingly, the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (IVW) and iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (IVE) were at the top in terms of flows, almost exactly where they were at this time last year, when both funds pulled in more than $2 billion. This year, IVE gained $4.3 billion while IVG packed on $3.3 billion.
Although the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) didn’t make the top 10, its lower-cost clone, the Vanguard 500 ETF (VOO), ranked at No. 5 for flows, pulling in $1.4 billion, closely followed by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), which gained nearly as much.
Looking at the top 10 ETFs for inflows during the week, large-cap growth and value funds as well as emerging markets ETFs dominated other ETFs. U.S. equity ETFs gained $36.5 billion overall, followed by international equity, which added $9 billion.
Meanwhile, two sector funds topped the outflows list, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) and the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) losing $834.3 million and $557.8 million, respectively. And although VOO gained more than $1 billion, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) was the fourth-biggest loser, bleeding $320 million. Other funds in the top 10 for outflows included Treasury ETFs and other sector funds.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value ETF | 4,269.68 | 21,915.57 | 19.48% |
| IVW | iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF | 3,287.57 | 27,767.77 | 11.84% |
| IUSV | iShares Core S&P U.S. Value ETF | 1,646.32 | 8,500.39 | 19.37% |
| RPG | Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF | 1,638.71 | 4,355.07 | 37.63% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 1,447.53 | 130,497.12 | 1.11% |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 1,411.26 | 60,985.88 | 2.31% |
| SPYV | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Value ETF | 1,336.83 | 6,072.65 | 22.01% |
| IJS | iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | 1,206.23 | 7,930.15 | 15.21% |
| IJJ | iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF | 1,198.81 | 7,805.00 | 15.36% |
| EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 1,062.87 | 29,196.32 | 3.64% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -834.27 | 26,372.86 | -3.16% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | -557.83 | 10,514.36 | -5.31% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -486.32 | 17,916.50 | -2.71% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -320.47 | 199,945.03 | -0.16% |
| SPLV | Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF | -273.88 | 11,770.19 | -2.33% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | -239.10 | 11,012.80 | -2.17% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | -221.04 | 20,448.64 | -1.08% |
| GUNR | FlexShares Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Index Fund | -220.37 | 5,493.61 | -4.01% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -152.57 | 17,585.35 | -0.87% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | -152.24 | 25,840.76 | -0.59% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 36,546.72 | 2,536,499.59 | 1.44% |
| International Equity | 9,078.41 | 886,076.47 | 1.02% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 4,722.17 | 753,707.34 | 0.63% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,070.28 | 89,744.10 | 1.19% |
| Commodities ETFs | -29.21 | 78,872.38 | -0.04% |
| Currency | -7.03 | 1,354.24 | -0.52% |
| Leveraged | 88.32 | 39,108.55 | 0.23% |
| Inverse | 104.06 | 11,860.46 | 0.88% |
| Asset Allocation | 50.68 | 10,654.43 | 0.48% |
| Alternatives | 75.37 | 4,559.30 | 1.65% |
| Total: | 51,699.76 | 4,412,436.87 | 1.17% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 155,522.38 | 2,536,499.59 | 6.13% |
| International Equity | 28,016.06 | 886,076.47 | 3.16% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 131,735.30 | 753,707.34 | 17.48% |
| International Fixed Income | 19,743.73 | 89,744.10 | 22.00% |
| Commodities ETFs | 7,580.40 | 78,872.38 | 9.61% |
| Currency | -443.12 | 1,354.24 | -32.72% |
| Leveraged | -7,085.44 | 39,108.55 | -18.12% |
| Inverse | 5,473.02 | 11,860.46 | 46.15% |
| Asset Allocation | 480.50 | 10,654.43 | 4.51% |
| Alternatives | 1,153.13 | 4,559.30 | 25.29% |
| Total: | 342,175.95 | 4,412,436.87 | 7.75% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| FLBR | Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF | 79,438 | 529,128 | 666.09% |
| BCM | iPath Pure Beta Broad Commodity ETN | 4,995 | 22,761 | 455.71% |
| AWTM | Aware Ultra-Short Duration Enhanced Income ETF | 33,395 | 174,467 | 522.43% |
| SPGM | SPDR Portfolio MSCI Global Stock Market ETF | 22,424 | 100,770 | 449.39% |
| CIL | VictoryShares International Volatility Wtd ETF | 5,676 | 34,570 | 609.08% |
| CXSE | WisdomTree China ex-State-Owned Enterprises Fund | 15,596 | 63,113 | 404.67% |
| IGRO | iShares International Dividend Growth ETF | 13,733 | 53,693 | 390.99% |
| JPGE | JPMorgan Diversified Return Global Equity ETF | 9,245 | 32,947 | 356.37% |
| BWZ | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Short Term International Treasury Bond ETF | 58,812 | 253,993 | 431.88% |
| HAUZ | Xtrackers International Real Estate ETF | 46,101 | 117,284 | 254.40% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| PSCE | Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | 7.45% | 200,841 | 27.80 |
| FCG | First Trust Natural Gas ETF | 7.35% | 1,979,965 | 89.35 |
| PXE | Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF | 6.29% | 109,871 | 27.05 |
| MLPY | Morgan Stanley Cushing MLP High Income Index ETN | 6.26% | 11,115 | 27.05 |
| XOP | SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF | 6.20% | 119,780,068 | 2,408.72 |
| AMZA | InfraCap MLP ETF | 6.07% | 3,108,514 | 315.41 |
| MLPG | ETRACS Alerian Natural Gas MLP ETN | 5.79% | 5,856 | 4.59 |
| EWSC | Invesco S&P SmallCap 600 Equal Weight ETF | 5.51% | 9,135 | 34.44 |
| DWAQ | Invesco DWA NASDAQ Momentum ETF | 5.50% | 7,080 | 50.31 |
| PPLN | J.P. Morgan Cushing 30 MLP Index ETN | 5.34% | 2,960 | 4.63 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | 65.01% | 2.36% | 437.48 |
| XSD | SPDR S&P Semiconductor ETF | 63.08% | 1.76% | 516.83 |
| SMH | VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF | 62.84% | 1.04% | 1,586.29 |
| SOXX | iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF | 61.04% | 1.36% | 2,319.42 |
| FTXL | First Trust Nasdaq Semiconductor ETF | 60.88% | 1.38% | 42.49 |
| BBC | Virtus LifeSci Biotech Clinical Trials ETF | 60.52% | 1.71% | 36.80 |
| PBW | Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF | 56.87% | 3.55% | 210.11 |
| PALL | Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF | 53.06% | -0.73% | 305.44 |
| INR | Market Vectors-Indian Rupee/USD ETN | 51.99% | 0.00% | 0.49 |
| SBIO | ALPS Medical Breakthroughs ETF | 51.66% | -0.70% | 224.98 |
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.
