First Weekly ETF Outflows In 6 Weeks

Investors pulled $9.7 billion from U.S.-listed ETFs this week.

Sumit Roy

Senior ETF Analyst

May 10, 2019

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

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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.

Sumit Roy

| Contact: [email protected]

Sumit Roy is the senior ETF analyst for etf.com, where he has worked for 13 years. He creates a variety of content for the platform, including news articles, analysis pieces, videos and podcasts.

Before joining etf.com, Sumit was the managing editor and commodities analyst for Hard Assets Investor. In those roles, he was responsible for most of the operations of HAI, a website dedicated to education about commodities investing.

Though he still closely follows the commodities beat, Sumit covers a much broader assortment of topics for etf.com, with a particular focus on stock and bond exchange-traded funds.

He is the host of etf.com’s Talk ETFs, a popular video series that features weekly interviews with thought leaders in the ETF industry. Sumit is also co-host of Exchange Traded Fridays, etf.com’s weekly podcast series.

He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he enjoys climbing the city’s steep hills, playing chess and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe.

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