Gold & Emerging Markets Top Weekly Inflows
Gold, corporate bonds and emerging market ETFs were in favor in the latest week.
U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds continued to roll when it came to flows. On the whole, ETFs registered net inflows of $5.9 billion in the week ending Thursday, Sept. 8, bringing the win streak to nine weeks. However, the data from FactSet excludes Friday, Sept. 9, when stock and bond markets sold off sharply following comments from a key Fed official that suggested the central bank may hike interest rates soon.
All the major asset classes saw inflows this week. U.S. equity ETFs led the pack, with inflows of $2.1 billion, followed by U.S. fixed income, with $2 billion. In addition, international equity ETFs had inflows of $905 million; commodity ETF had inflows of $530 million; and international fixed-income ETFs had inflows of $405 million.
Gold, Corporate Bonds & Emerging Markets In Favor
When it comes to individual ETFs, the top creations list featured a diverse group of products. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) garnered inflows of $555 million, while the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) had inflows of $460 million.
Gold prices trended higher this week, but remained trapped in their recent range between $1,300 and $1,350/oz.
Meanwhile, corporate bonds also saw interest in the past several days. The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) had inflows of $430 million and $330 million, respectively.
Emerging markets were another area that saw buying. Net inflows for the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) were $350 million, while net inflows for the iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB) were $330 million.
VXF Loses Quarter Of AUM
Taking a look at outflows, one ETF in particular lost a big chunk of its assets this week. The Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund (VXF) had outflows of $1.1 billion, representing almost a quarter of its assets under management. VXF tracks a total market index that excludes all S&P 500 companies.
Europe ETFs were also out of favor this week. The WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (HEDJ) continued to bleed assets, losing $250 million. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) also had outflows of $250 million.
For a full list of top ETF inflows and outflows for the week, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 2,021.69 | 202,973.30 | 1.01% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 593.89 | 79,821.07 | 0.75% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | 555.26 | 41,207.24 | 1.37% |
| GDX | VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF | 458.10 | 11,204.85 | 4.26% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 432.57 | 16,864.42 | 2.63% |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 352.99 | 16,933.00 | 2.13% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 332.93 | 32,970.39 | 1.02% |
| EMB | iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF | 327.80 | 9,995.78 | 3.39% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | 308.41 | 13,577.06 | 2.32% |
| BSV | Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index Fund | 298.52 | 18,575.81 | 1.63% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| VXF | Vanguard Extended Market Index Fund | -1,139.93 | 3,168.00 | -26.46% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -635.88 | 28,066.53 | -2.22% |
| QQQ | PowerShares QQQ Trust | -398.55 | 39,717.14 | -0.99% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -259.52 | 16,091.59 | -1.59% |
| HEDJ | WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund | -254.02 | 9,566.81 | -2.59% |
| VGK | Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF | -249.15 | 11,817.63 | -2.06% |
| SPLV | Powershares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio | -236.73 | 7,434.06 | -3.09% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -222.44 | 7,641.28 | -2.83% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | -207.95 | 7,787.25 | -2.60% |
| MDY | SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust | -201.41 | 17,394.74 | -1.14% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 2,123.95 | 1,344,655.99 | 0.16% |
| International Equity | 905.72 | 520,196.07 | 0.17% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,042.04 | 405,955.62 | 0.50% |
| International Fixed Income | 404.97 | 41,442.98 | 0.97% |
| Commodities | 532.45 | 75,292.07 | 0.70% |
| Currency | -24.93 | 1,403.23 | -1.71% |
| Leveraged | -157.56 | 25,112.43 | -0.62% |
| Inverse | 35.67 | 19,637.20 | 0.17% |
| Asset Allocation | 14.01 | 6,530.96 | 0.21% |
| Alternatives | 11.88 | 4,543.14 | 0.26% |
| Total: | 5,888.21 | 2,444,769.69 | 0.30% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| EMHY | iShares Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF | 28,128 | 173,022 | 615.12% |
| URTH | iShares MSCI World ETF | 38,400 | 207,568 | 540.54% |
| IGN | iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF | 14,394 | 49,170 | 341.59% |
| FNY | First Trust Mid Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund | 29,808 | 129,718 | 435.18% |
| TMF | Direxion Daily 20+ Year Treasury Bull 3X Shares | 106,018 | 413,575 | 390.10% |
| DWAS | PowerShares DWA SmallCap Momentum Portfolio | 25,870 | 91,628 | 354.19% |
| DEM | WisdomTree Emerging Markets High Dividend Fund | 361,071 | 1,200,165 | 332.39% |
| XLRE | Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund | 71,924 | 258,084 | 358.83% |
| SOCL | Global X Social Media Index ETF | 117,316 | 371,254 | 316.46% |
| FLTR | VanEck Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF | 9,913 | 22,794 | 229.94% |
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.
