Int'l Equity ETFs Fuel Weekly Inflows

Sumit Roy

Senior ETF Analyst

May 05, 2017

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

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ETF investors lightened up on their U.S. equity positions while adding to their international equity positions, according to the latest data from FactSet. In total, U.S.-listed ETFs registered net inflows of $1.6 billion in the week ending Thursday, May 4, but the contrast between the various asset classes was stark.

U.S. equity ETFs had outflows of $4.7 billion in the period, largely due to a $7 billion redemption in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY). The outflow took place despite a successful passage of the GOP health care bill in the House of Representatives and the release of a strong jobs report during the week, pushing the S&P 500 near its record high of 2,400.

On the flip side, international equity ETFs had inflows of $4.2 billion ahead of the French presidential run-off this weekend in which the centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron is expected to be victorious, according to polls.

U.S. fixed-income and international fixed-income ETFs also saw inflows during the week, with creations of $1.3 billion and $500 million, respectively.

QQQ Leads Inflows, SPY Leads Outflows
In terms of individual ETFs, the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ) was the only fund to have inflows of more than $1 billion during the period.

International equity ETFs that did well during the week included the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO), with inflows of $646 million; the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA), with inflows of $406 million; the iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF (EZU), with inflows of $398 million; and the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA), with inflows of $395 million.

On the outflows side, as stated previously, SPY was the biggest loser, with redemptions of $7 billion. That was followed by the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), with outflows of $1.3 billion.

The iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), with redemptions of $658 million; the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX), with redemptions of $533 million; and the PowerShares High Beta Portfolio (SPHB), with redemptions of $273 million, were a few other ETFs that fell out of favor this week.

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
QQQ	PowerShares QQQ Trust	1,093.26	50,266.89	2.22%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 Index Fund	724.52	66,696.14	1.10%
VWO	Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF	646.15	53,592.89	1.22%
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	433.59	109,873.34	0.40%
VEA	Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF	405.89	50,909.03	0.80%
EZU	iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF	398.13	10,788.86	3.83%
IEFA	iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF	394.66	24,453.21	1.64%
IWD	iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	384.76	37,296.57	1.04%
VTI	Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund	326.31	77,778.03	0.42%
IXUS	iShares Core MSCI Total International Stock ETF	318.93	5,788.07	5.83%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	-7,018.20	230,926.19	-2.95%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	-1,325.21	38,889.93	-3.30%
MDY	SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust	-733.45	18,527.49	-3.81%
HYG	iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-657.60	18,676.35	-3.40%
GDX	VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF	-532.93	9,597.22	-5.26%
SPHB	PowerShares S&P 500 High Beta Portfolio	-272.84	265.39	-50.69%
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	-211.18	7,128.32	-2.88%
XBI	SPDR S&P BIOTECH ETF	-187.61	3,085.21	-5.73%
XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-176.01	23,148.46	-0.75%
XRT	SPDR S&P Retail ETF	-154.81	281.96	-35.45%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	-4,665.00	1,627,254.54	-0.29%
International Equity	4,165.40	620,177.82	0.67%
U.S. Fixed Income	1,259.20	454,943.05	0.28%
International Fixed Income	469.18	47,588.09	0.99%
Commodities	-49.00	63,723.45	-0.08%
Currency	-34.93	2,821.22	-1.24%
Leveraged	568.99	26,832.66	2.12%
Inverse	-91.90	17,272.50	-0.53%
Asset Allocation	43.44	6,924.21	0.63%
Alternatives	-103.65	3,677.59	-2.82%
Total:	1,561.75	2,871,215.11	0.05%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
BMLP	BMO Elkhorn DWA MLP Select Index ETN	289	1,680	581.00%
IVAL	ValueShares International Quantitative Value ETF	8,431	32,943	390.75%
QVAL	ValueShares U.S. Quantitative Value ETF	10,734	44,400	413.64%
CHIQ	Global X China Consumer ETF	36,954	106,503	288.21%
JKF	iShares Morningstar Large Cap Value ETF	13,222	35,709	270.08%
FXA	CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust	21,652	63,264	292.19%
CQQQ	Guggenheim China Technology ETF	20,778	58,338	280.77%
HOLD	AdvisorShares Sage Core Reserves ETF	95	191	200.91%
PPLT	ETFS Physical Platinum Shares	56,799	159,710	281.18%
SPXL	Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3x Shares	302,579	1,118,448	369.64%

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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