First Weekly ETF Outflows In 6 Weeks
Investors pulled $9.7 billion from U.S.-listed ETFs this week.
Renewed trade tensions spooked investors into pulling money out of ETFs for the first time in six weeks. All told, $9.7 billion flowed out of U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, May 9.
Nearly all of that money came out of U.S. equity ETFs, which were hit hard after President Trump threatened to impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods because trade talks were progressing too slowly, in his view. The president followed through on that threat on Friday and in response, China promised to retaliate.
The S&P 500 dropped nearly 4.5% from its all-time high set last week, but losses were relatively contained as investors hoped that the latest trade riff would resolve itself in the not-too-distant future.
Nevertheless, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) faced the brunt of this week’s outflows, shedding $9.4 billion. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) also fared poorly, with outflows of $2 billion.
Fixed Income Inflows
With stocks reeling, investors plowed money into safe havens like bonds this week. U.S. fixed income ETFs picked up a net $1.3 billion in fresh cash, with a few hundred million dollars heading into the iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (USHY), the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT) and the iShares Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (IGSB).
Fixed income losers included the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK).
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | 786.86 | 25,750.24 | 3.06% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | 541.99 | 9,434.29 | 5.74% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 523.24 | 111,584.81 | 0.47% |
| XLP | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund | 509.26 | 11,425.14 | 4.46% |
| USHY | iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 370.02 | 1,235.91 | 29.94% |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 343.17 | 63,298.72 | 0.54% |
| VWO | Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF | 206.77 | 63,673.44 | 0.32% |
| BBJP | JPMorgan BetaBuilders Japan ETF | 200.80 | 3,623.78 | 5.54% |
| VCIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF | 199.02 | 23,578.37 | 0.84% |
| IGSB | iShares Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF | 191.99 | 11,412.66 | 1.68% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -9,384.69 | 266,699.16 | -3.52% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -1,991.23 | 72,476.59 | -2.75% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -534.69 | 16,109.79 | -3.32% |
| EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | -524.94 | 13,504.56 | -3.89% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | -514.37 | 12,218.47 | -4.21% |
| XLB | Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund | -469.78 | 3,466.39 | -13.55% |
| IYR | iShares U.S. Real Estate ETF | -377.79 | 3,838.41 | -9.84% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -356.05 | 9,258.10 | -3.85% |
| EMLC | VanEck Vectors J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF | -329.40 | 4,974.06 | -6.62% |
| UVXY | ProShares Ultra VIX Short-Term Futures ETF | -298.67 | 496.98 | -60.10% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -9,667.05 | 2,191,287.78 | -0.44% |
| International Equity | -74.77 | 822,954.94 | -0.01% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 1,324.93 | 642,465.12 | 0.21% |
| International Fixed Income | -365.48 | 73,753.92 | -0.50% |
| Commodities | -421.09 | 61,529.09 | -0.68% |
| Currency | -24.92 | 1,447.67 | -1.72% |
| Leveraged | -124.50 | 37,792.13 | -0.33% |
| Inverse | -277.48 | 11,505.60 | -2.41% |
| Asset Allocation | 16.75 | 9,504.48 | 0.18% |
| Alternatives | -133.57 | 5,821.04 | -2.29% |
| Total: | -9,747.18 | 3,858,061.75 | -0.25% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 18,582.02 | 2,191,287.78 | 0.85% |
| International Equity | 12,487.48 | 822,954.94 | 1.52% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 35,721.99 | 642,465.12 | 5.56% |
| International Fixed Income | 6,194.33 | 73,753.92 | 8.40% |
| Commodities ETFs | -2,501.04 | 61,529.09 | -4.06% |
| Currency | -337.40 | 1,447.67 | -23.31% |
| Leveraged | -1,960.24 | 37,792.13 | -5.19% |
| Inverse | 2,427.00 | 11,505.60 | 21.09% |
| Asset Allocation | -529.30 | 9,504.48 | -5.57% |
| Alternatives | 821.13 | 5,821.04 | 14.11% |
| Total: | 70,905.98 | 3,858,061.75 | 1.84% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| HYUP | Xtrackers High Beta High Yield Bond ETF | 7,007 | 21,394 | 305.33% |
| PTEU | Pacer Trendpilot European Index ETF | 49,962 | 166,121 | 332.49% |
| QUS | SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF | 47,914 | 135,005 | 281.77% |
| IMTM | iShares Edge MSCI Intl Momentum Factor ETF | 29,598 | 70,396 | 237.84% |
| FVC | First Trust Dorsey Wright Dynamic Focus 5 ETF | 81,599 | 213,143 | 261.21% |
| ISRA | VanEck Vectors Israel ETF | 2,018 | 4,870 | 241.27% |
| AGZD | WisdomTree Interest Rate Hedged U.S. Aggregate Bond Fund | 10,013 | 23,039 | 230.08% |
| CUT | Invesco MSCI Global Timber ETF | 18,928 | 40,464 | 213.78% |
| QQQE | Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares | 45,412 | 99,173 | 218.38% |
| GVI | iShares Intermediate Government/Credit Bond ETF | 74,213 | 200,533 | 270.21% |
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.
