International Equity ETFs Stay Red Hot, Pulling In $17.6B Last Week

U.S.-listed ETFs pulled in a solid $23.7 billion during the holiday-shortened week ending Friday, Jan. 23, bringing year-to-date inflows to $121 billion.

Despite the shortened trading week due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday, investor appetite, particularly for international equities, remained strong. International stock ETFs continued their hot streak, attracting $17.6 billion, while U.S. equity ETFs saw $2.6 billion of outflows.

U.S. fixed income ETFs gathered $6.1 billion, while international fixed income ETFs added another $3.1 billion. Elsewhere, currency ETFs lost $2.1 billion, while commodity ETFs picked up $1.5 billion.

IEMG Sizzles

At the individual fund level, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) led all ETFs with $3 billion of inflows for the week. It was followed by the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG), which brought in $1.9 billion. Year to date, VOO has accumulated $16.5 billion in new assets, while IEMG has pulled in $7.1 billion.

Another emerging markets fund also cracked the top 10. The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) gathered $1.5 billion during the week.

International equity ETFs continue to sizzle not just in flows, but in performance as well. IEMG is up roughly 10% so far this year, compared with a 7.2% gain for VWO and a 2% return for VOO. One factor working in IEMG’s favor is its roughly 15% allocation to South Korea, which VWO excludes due to differences in index classification.

On the outflows side, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) led the pack with $10.3 billion of redemptions, followed by the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which lost $2.4 billion.

For a full list of the top ETF inflows and outflows for the week, see the tables below.