International Equity ETFs Dominate Early Year Flows
International equity ETFs led weekly flows, pulling in $16.1 billion.
Investors added $26.3 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs in the first full week of the new year, extending momentum from 2025, when ETFs pulled in nearly $1.5 trillion, a record annual total.
The week, which covers the period ending Friday, Jan. 9, was unusual in terms of flow leadership. International equity ETFs dominated, attracting $16.1 billion in inflows, while U.S. equity ETFs saw net outflows of $1.8 billion.
Fixed income ETFs also saw healthy demand. U.S. fixed income ETFs gathered $9.3 billion, while international fixed income ETFs took in $3.5 billion.
International stocks have continued to outperform early in the year, building on their strong showing in 2025. The Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) is up about 4% year to date, compared with roughly 2% for the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO).
Inflows For Both
VXUS pulled in $1.2 billion of inflows last week. Other international equity ETFs seeing strong demand included the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) and the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), which each gathered $1.4 billion.
Despite overall net outflows from U.S. equity ETFs, investors continued to pour money into VOO, which led all ETFs with $4.4 billion of inflows. The fund accumulated more than $100 billion of inflows for the second consecutive year in 2025.
Close behind was the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF (SPYM), which took in about $4 billion last week.
Other ETFs seeing notable inflows included the Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (CGDV) with $1.8 billion, the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) with $1.1 billion, and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) with $1 billion.
IWM Sheds Assets Despite Early Outperformance
On the outflows side, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) led all ETFs with outflows of more than $10 billion and $5.8 billion, respectively. The Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) lost $3.3 billion, while the leveraged Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (SOXL) shed $2.6 billion.
The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) also saw $2.2 billion in outflows, despite being up more than 6% year to date.
For a full list of last week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change< |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 4,403.76 | 853,001.70 | 0.52 |
| SPYM | State Street SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | 4,011.02 | 102,074.11 | 3.93 |
| CGDV | Capital Group Dividend Value ETF | 1,827.32 | 28,739.09 | 6.36 |
| SGOV | iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | 1,541.52 | 70,464.82 | 2.19 |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 1,386.36 | 167,375.06 | 0.83 |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 1,374.64 | 125,946.91 | 1.09 |
| VXUS | Vanguard Total International Stock ETF | 1,156.26 | 124,658.02 | 0.93 |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,116.27 | 580,392.88 | 0.19 |
| XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | 1,112.65 | 41,685.12 | 2.67 |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | 1,014.35 | 40,263.78 | 2.52 |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -10,078.38 | 759,845.54 | -1.33 |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -5,822.05 | 714,116.30 | -0.82 |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust Series I | -3,313.53 | 408,524.03 | -0.81 |
| SOXL | Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x Shares | -2,614.16 | 12,401.48 | -21.08 |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -2,150.59 | 75,036.77 | -2.87 |
| IWF | iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF | -2,059.19 | 124,000.28 | -1.66 |
| IWD | iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | -1,276.28 | 70,499.90 | -1.81 |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -1,138.24 | 18,807.66 | -6.05 |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | -982.32 | 29,135.67 | -3.37 |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -833.34 | 46,540.55 | -1.79 |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| Alternatives | 1,010.32 | 113,264.36 | 0.89% |
| Asset Allocation | 223.77 | 33,357.81 | 0.67% |
| Commodities E T Fs | 348.67 | 343,751.44 | 0.10% |
| Currency | 479.73 | 147,720.12 | 0.32% |
| International Equity | 16,136.66 | 2,321,842.26 | 0.69% |
| International Fixed Income | 3,468.47 | 374,928.05 | 0.93% |
| Inverse | 434.72 | 12,215.80 | 3.56% |
| Leveraged | -3,276.28 | 153,681.32 | -2.13% |
| Us Equity | -1,817.18 | 8,297,668.72 | -0.02% |
| Us Fixed Income | 9,308.04 | 1,909,032.28 | 0.49% |
| Total: | 26,316.92 | 13,707,462.16 | 0.19% |
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.
