Interest Rate Angst Sparks Weekly Outflows
U.S.-listed ETFs had their second-straight week of outflows.
Concerns about falling interest rates sparked a second-straight week of ETF outflows. According to data from FactSet, $1.8 billion flowed out of U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, March 28.
Though U.S. stocks—as measured by the S&P 500—actually edged higher during the week, a sense of angst hung over the markets as interest rates tumbled. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield tumbled as low as 2.34%, the lowest level since late 2017, fueling economic growth worries.
Those jitters spurred investors to pull $4.1 billion out of U.S. equity ETFs, including $2.4 billion from the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), $1.7 billion from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and $960 million from the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM).
Meanwhile, investors put money to work in U.S. fixed-income ETFs, which had net inflows of $1.7 billion. Winners in that space included the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), the iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (USHY) and the iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF (GOVT).
Interestingly, despite liking fixed income as a whole, ETF investors weren’t too interested in long-term Treasury bonds this week. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) had outflows of $486 million during the period.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 609.11 | 167,735.21 | 0.36% |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 589.09 | 60,197.06 | 0.98% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 575.77 | 33,603.36 | 1.71% |
| USMV | iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol U.S.A. ETF | 472.59 | 24,649.69 | 1.92% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 412.81 | 16,039.73 | 2.57% |
| USHY | iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 354.33 | 837.55 | 42.31% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 309.01 | 108,627.62 | 0.28% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | 260.78 | 33,014.20 | 0.79% |
| VYM | Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF | 260.71 | 22,943.48 | 1.14% |
| GOVT | iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF | 256.17 | 8,657.64 | 2.96% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -2,379.88 | 70,029.92 | -3.40% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,702.69 | 260,903.55 | -0.65% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -960.14 | 42,738.20 | -2.25% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -915.45 | 22,155.08 | -4.13% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | -516.76 | 13,760.55 | -3.76% |
| EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | -500.56 | 13,630.93 | -3.67% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -486.20 | 10,005.36 | -4.86% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -482.58 | 9,133.75 | -5.28% |
| BKLN | Invesco Senior Loan ETF | -389.27 | 5,281.77 | -7.37% |
| VNQ | Vanguard Real Estate ETF | -295.00 | 33,817.58 | -0.87% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -4,085.24 | 2,126,625.60 | -0.19% |
| International Equity | -47.71 | 812,769.77 | -0.01% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 1,734.05 | 634,315.42 | 0.27% |
| International Fixed Income | 235.90 | 74,496.89 | 0.32% |
| Commodities | 218.10 | 65,381.60 | 0.33% |
| Currency | 7.35 | 1,467.83 | 0.50% |
| Leveraged | -0.46 | 36,758.86 | -0.00% |
| Inverse | 163.83 | 12,091.46 | 1.35% |
| Asset Allocation | 8.04 | 9,386.59 | 0.09% |
| Alternatives | -52.60 | 4,761.56 | -1.10% |
| Total: | -1,818.74 | 3,778,055.59 | -0.05% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 7,454.82 | 2,126,625.60 | 0.35% |
| International Equity | 6,279.66 | 812,769.77 | 0.77% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 26,507.93 | 634,315.42 | 4.18% |
| International Fixed Income | 6,854.60 | 74,496.89 | 9.20% |
| Commodities | 156.50 | 65,381.60 | 0.24% |
| Currency | -320.40 | 1,467.83 | -21.83% |
| Leveraged | -1,800.92 | 36,758.86 | -4.90% |
| Inverse | 2,956.15 | 12,091.46 | 24.45% |
| Asset Allocation | -575.54 | 9,386.59 | -6.13% |
| Alternatives | 614.89 | 4,761.56 | 12.91% |
| Total: | 48,127.67 | 3,778,055.59 | 1.27% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| ASHX | Xtrackers MSCI China A Inclusion Equity ETF | 60,121 | 333,142 | 554.12% |
| NFO | Invesco Insider Sentiment ETF | 1,738 | 8,366 | 481.34% |
| JHMH | John Hancock Multifactor Healthcare ETF | 23,161 | 104,259 | 450.14% |
| JHMT | John Hancock Multifactor Technology ETF | 16,784 | 77,208 | 460.01% |
| AGGE | IQ Enhanced Core Bond U.S. ETF | 7,127 | 31,972 | 448.58% |
| JPHF | JPMorgan Diversified Alternatives ETF | 33,365 | 154,999 | 464.56% |
| QDYN | FlexShares Quality Dividend Dynamic Index Fund | 2,249 | 8,379 | 372.59% |
| JHMF | John Hancock Multifactor Financials ETF | 15,128 | 54,355 | 359.30% |
| IVOO | Vanguard S&P Mid-Cap 400 ETF | 36,771 | 118,768 | 323.00% |
| CBND | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Corporate Bond ETF | 10,508 | 30,371 | 289.03% |
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.
