Investment Grade Bond ETFs Favored
Despite a strong rally in stock markets, ETF investors favored investment-grade bond ETFs in the week-ending Thursday, Nov. 19.
A strong week for U.S. stocks translated into modest inflows for U.S. equity exchange-traded funds. The S&P 500 rallied 1.7% in the week ending Thursday, Nov. 19, fueling a relatively small $596 million into the segment. (Incidentally, the stock index rose by 3.3% in the week ending Friday, Nov. 20, but the following data runs through only Thursday.)
At the same time that ETF investors tiptoed into equities, they bought hefty positions in various bond ETFs. That's somewhat ironic, considering that the minutes to the Federal Reserve's October meeting, released on Wednesday, only strengthened the view that the central bank would hike its benchmark overnight interest rate In December for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Part of the reason for the strength in bonds this week may be anticipation of more stimulus from the European Central Bank on Dec. 3. If the ECB expands its QE program, that could pressure European bond yields (yields move inversely to price), filtering into lower U.S. yields as well.
Bonds & Oil Lead Inflows
The iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG | A-98) picked up the most assets this week, at $890 million. The other bond fund that saw significant interest was the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD | A-77), with inflows of $449 million.
When it came to bond funds this week, investors favored quality and shunned riskier high-yield products like the SPDR Barclays High Yield ETF (JNK | B-68), which had outflows of $150 million. Plunging oil prices reduced the appeal of junk bonds, which have a heavy energy sector weighting.
That said, while the oil plunge turned off some investors from high-yield bonds, others used the drop in crude to buy the oil-futures-linked United States Oil Fund (USO | B-100). That ETF saw a notable $391 million in flows during the week.
Meanwhile, the equity ETF to see the largest inflows this week was the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA | A-93), at $529 million.
Large-Caps Lead Outflows
On the other end of the spectrum, large-cap U.S. equity ETFs saw the biggest outflows. The SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-98) lost $1.8 billion; the PowerShares QQQ (QQQ | A-64) lost $353 million, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average Trust (DIA | A-85) shed $282 million.
Outside U.S. equities, the emerging markets heavyweight iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM | B-100) saw outflows of $337 million.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond | 889.45 | 29,772.84 | 3.08% |
VEA | Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets | 529.11 | 29,102.48 | 1.85% |
LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond | 449.11 | 24,045.96 | 1.90% |
USO | United States Oil | 391.47 | 3,128.54 | 14.30% |
XLF | Financial Select SPDR | 314.51 | 19,225.12 | 1.66% |
XLI | Industrial Select SPDR | 224.34 | 6,824.34 | 3.40% |
VOE | Vanguard Mid-Cap Value | 219.94 | 4,353.52 | 5.32% |
BND | Vanguard Total Bond Market | 219.14 | 27,159.92 | 0.81% |
AMLP | Alerian MLP | 214.62 | 7,331.49 | 3.02% |
UWTI | VelocityShares 3X Long Crude Oil ETN | 208.33 | 1,070.59 | 24.16% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | -1,812.73 | 178,841.63 | -1.00% |
QQQ | PowerShares QQQ | -353.33 | 42,902.83 | -0.82% |
EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets | -336.82 | 22,584.46 | -1.47% |
DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average Trust | -282.25 | 12,433.84 | -2.22% |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 | -257.10 | 27,608.30 | -0.92% |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 | -204.76 | 69,932.09 | -0.29% |
JNK | SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond | -150.12 | 10,621.03 | -1.39% |
IWB | iShares Russell 1000 | -148.77 | 15,025.21 | -0.98% |
IWN | iShares Russell 2000 Value | -127.40 | 5,869.84 | -2.12% |
VCR | Vanguard Consumer Discretionary | -122.02 | 2,019.55 | -5.70% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | 595.86 | 1,184,423.37 | 0.01% |
International Equity | 363.90 | 495,059.92 | 0.01% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 1,745.48 | 329,220.77 | 0.11% |
International Fixed Income | 462.88 | 27,361.11 | 0.34% |
Commodities | 576.23 | 48,178.77 | 0.24% |
Currency | -22.76 | 1,934.34 | -0.24% |
Leveraged | 1,152.56 | 24,583.91 | 0.97% |
Inverse | -315.53 | 19,226.80 | -0.32% |
Asset Allocation | -4.86 | 5,441.70 | -0.02% |
Alternatives | 56.77 | 3,314.47 | 0.34% |
Total: | 4,610.53 | 2,138,745.16 | 0.04% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
DGT | SPDR Global Dow | 4,053 | 17,701 | 436.74% |
QCLN | First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy | 24,638 | 70,742 | 287.13% |
TIPZ | PIMCO Broad U.S. TIPS | 14,953 | 37,283 | 249.33% |
SPYV | SPDR S&P 500 Value | 8,456 | 20,642 | 244.10% |
DBKO | Deutsche X-trackers MSCI South Korea Hedged Equity ETF | 265,983 | 547,446 | 205.82% |
LTPZ | PIMCO 15+ Year U.S. TIPS | 24,520 | 50,109 | 204.36% |
IWR | iShares Russell Mid-Cap | 298,265 | 740,046 | 248.12% |
IUSB | iShares Core Total USD Bond Market | 7,845 | 18,752 | 239.03% |
ATMP | Barclays ETN+ Select MLP ETN | 128,900 | 267,979 | 207.90% |
BSJI | Guggenheim BulletShares 2018 High Yield Corporate Bond | 275,920 | 672,135 | 243.60% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
ERUS | iShares MSCI Russia Capped | 8.92% | 3,674,554 | 241.94 |
RSX | Market Vectors Russia | 8.52% | 70,896,850 | 1,949.98 |
RBL | SPDR S&P Russia | 7.28% | 28,808 | 26.02 |
CNHX | CSOP MSCI China A International Hedged | 6.88% | 4,200 | 3.16 |
EWZ | iShares MSCI Brazil Capped | 6.08% | 88,426,744 | 1,983.29 |
RTM | Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Materials | 5.41% | 12,412 | 56.06 |
PYZ | PowerShares DWA Basic Materials Momentum | 5.27% | 36,657 | 64.04 |
GRID | First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure | 5.12% | 2,283 | 11.50 |
PLTM | First Trust ISE Global Platinum | 4.92% | 50,434 | 5.14 |
XPH | SPDR S&P Pharmaceuticals | 4.89% | 428,476 | 706.42 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | -7.68% | 750,832 | 3.02 |
JJE | iPath Bloomberg Energy Subindex Total Return ETN | -7.16% | 4,545 | 1.05 |
ICOL | iShares MSCI Colombia Capped | -5.60% | 76,649 | 13.14 |
GXG | Global X MSCI Colombia | -5.18% | 790,407 | 57.44 |
JJN | iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN | -4.96% | 4,961 | 5.58 |
JJC | iPath Bloomberg Copper Subindex Total Return ETN | -4.81% | 118,749 | 34.27 |
SLVO | Credit Suisse X-Links Silver Shares Covered Call ETN | -4.52% | 108,994 | 25.84 |
JJM | iPath Bloomberg Industrial Metals Subindex Total Return ETN | -4.37% | 5,644 | 5.72 |
UBG | ETRACS CMCI Gold Total Return ETN | -4.35% | 5,045 | 10.82 |
LEDD | iPath Pure Beta Lead ETN | -4.09% | 7,600 | 2.30 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
CNXT | Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext | 52.69% | 7.01% | 58.97 |
DXJH | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Health Care | 36.34% | 2.39% | 14.03 |
ASHS | Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 500 China-A Shares Small Cap ETF | 34.02% | 5.54% | 37.65 |
FDN | First Trust Dow Jones Internet | 23.96% | 3.49% | 4,679.14 |
PNQI | PowerShares NASDAQ Internet | 20.12% | 3.97% | 262.17 |
RSX | Market Vectors Russia | 19.28% | 8.45% | 1,949.98 |
BBP | BioShares Biotechnology Products | 18.80% | 1.94% | 23.27 |
DXJF | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials | 18.73% | 1.19% | 26.88 |
DXJS | WisdomTree Japan Hedged SmallCap Equity | 18.68% | 1.38% | 198.60 |
EDEN | iShares MSCI Denmark Capped | 18.11% | 2.94% | 68.38 |
Bottom 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
GAZ | iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | -67.02% | -6.69% | 6.38 |
CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | -59.50% | -16.92% | 3.02 |
XME | SPDR S&P Metals and Mining | -47.04% | 1.19% | 234.38 |
PLTM | First Trust ISE Global Platinum | -46.98% | 3.43% | 5.14 |
KOL | Market Vectors Coal | -46.83% | 1.30% | 49.50 |
FCG | First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas | -46.24% | -0.84% | 210.50 |
JJN | iPath Bloomberg Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN | -45.30% | -4.80% | 5.58 |
EWZS | iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap | -41.23% | 4.06% | 28.12 |
COPX | Global X Copper Miners | -40.81% | 0.84% | 16.75 |
NINI | iPath Pure Beta Nickel ETN | -40.77% | -3.16% | 0.76 |
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.