Investors Add Money To ETFs Despite Market Turbulence
Investors added $7.6 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Friday, May 13.
Investors added money to ETFs last week despite continued turbulence in financial markets. On net, $7.6 billion flowed into U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Friday, May 13. That brought year-to-date inflows up to $203.3 billion, below the $356.3 billion seen at this same time a year ago.
Though less than the year-ago level, 2022's ETF inflows have been impressive in the context of a dismal year for financial asset prices. As of last Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was down by 15.2% for the year, while the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) was lower by 9.6%.
Rather than heading for the hills, investors have been taking the opportunity to buy cheaper stocks and bonds, even as the pace of inflows is slower than last year, which was a record year for inflows.
This week, the bulk of the inflows headed into U.S. fixed income ETFs. In particular, short-term bond ETFs, which have relatively little interest rate risk, were in demand. The Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF (BSV) and the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV) picked up $3 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, during the week. In total, U.S. fixed income ETFs gathered $10.5 billion in the period.
Treasury bond prices pulled back from their recent highs last week, with the 10-year yield falling from 3.13% to 2.9%.
Meanwhile, U.S. equity ETFs tumbled, with the S&P 500 getting uncomforbtaly close to bear market territory, or down 20% from its highs. At its worst closing level on Thursday, the index was down by 18%.
Still, that didn't stop investors from putting $626 million into U.S. equity ETFs. The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) was the top asset gainer in the category during the week.
On the other side of the ledger, the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) topped the weekly outflows list, with redemptions of $1.6 billion. Gold prices sagged last week, giving up all of their gains for the year.
For a full list of this week's top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| BSV | Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF | 2,979.34 | 39,792.43 | 7.49% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 1,498.62 | 19,278.19 | 7.77% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 1,335.33 | 51,729.87 | 2.58% |
| SPYD | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF | 1,267.77 | 7,913.74 | 16.02% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 1,177.90 | 245,332.38 | 0.48% |
| BIL | SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | 1,142.90 | 18,020.37 | 6.34% |
| MUB | iShares National Muni Bond ETF | 1,084.19 | 26,585.62 | 4.08% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 961.62 | 353,370.60 | 0.27% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 918.09 | 19,485.62 | 4.71% |
| GOVT | iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF | 806.33 | 17,478.90 | 4.61% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | -1,560.76 | 62,355.36 | -2.50% |
| VHT | Vanguard Health Care ETF | -896.39 | 15,096.76 | -5.94% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -855.83 | 33,738.98 | -2.54% |
| VLUE | iShares MSCI USA Value Factor ETF | -742.31 | 10,980.82 | -6.76% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -646.02 | 158,126.39 | -0.41% |
| GSLC | Goldman Sachs ActiveBeta U.S. Large Cap Equity ETF | -563.82 | 11,455.90 | -4.92% |
| VBR | Vanguard Small-Cap Value ETF | -550.57 | 22,862.60 | -2.41% |
| SRLN | SPDR Blackstone Senior Loan ETF | -541.46 | 9,634.73 | -5.62% |
| VGT | Vanguard Information Technology ETF | -521.22 | 40,792.87 | -1.28% |
| VB | Vanguard Small-Cap ETF | -512.53 | 40,150.35 | -1.28% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 626.06 | 3,697,609.45 | 0.02% |
| International Equity | -954.29 | 1,111,846.73 | -0.09% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 10,504.79 | 1,060,850.80 | 0.99% |
| International Fixed Income | -666.08 | 143,360.19 | -0.46% |
| Commodities | -2,189.59 | 161,738.56 | -1.35% |
| Currency | 241.07 | 4,002.32 | 6.02% |
| Leveraged | 366.27 | 49,153.19 | 0.75% |
| Inverse | -320.80 | 18,991.69 | -1.69% |
| Asset Allocation | -44.68 | 17,566.47 | -0.25% |
| Alternatives | 38.33 | 7,473.43 | 0.51% |
| Total: | 7,601.08 | 6,272,592.83 | 0.12% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 70,577.66 | 3,697,609.45 | 1.91% |
| International Equity | 53,520.18 | 1,111,846.73 | 4.81% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 36,956.73 | 1,060,850.80 | 3.48% |
| International Fixed Income | 6,140.18 | 143,360.19 | 4.28% |
| Commodities | 18,153.06 | 161,738.56 | 11.22% |
| Currency | 1,202.46 | 4,002.32 | 30.04% |
| Leveraged | 12,924.27 | 49,153.19 | 26.29% |
| Inverse | 2,672.92 | 18,991.69 | 14.07% |
| Asset Allocation | 690.01 | 17,566.47 | 3.93% |
| Alternatives | 459.76 | 7,473.43 | 6.15% |
| Total: | 203,297.23 | 6,272,592.83 | 3.24% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| MLPO | Credit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN | 15.01% | 8,118 | 26.48 |
| GAZ | iPath Series B Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | 10.79% | 234,113 | 28.79 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas Fund LP | 8.93% | 35,831,360 | 512.47 |
| WEAT | Teucrium Wheat Fund | 8.43% | 29,486,959 | 604.80 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund LP | 8.10% | 323,431 | 40.21 |
| CHNA | Loncar China BioPharma ETF | 8.00% | 1,317 | 5.02 |
| SOGU | The Short De-SPAC ETF | 7.66% | 370,163 | 26.52 |
| KSTR | KraneShares SSE Star Market 50 Index ETF | 6.91% | 94,615 | 54.32 |
| KFVG | KraneShares CICC China 5G & Semiconductor Index ETF | 6.43% | 17,085 | 18.39 |
| GRU | ELEMENTS Linked to ICE BofAML Commodity index eXtra Grains - Total Return ETN | 5.71% | 81,726 | 14.63 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| RJN | Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Energy TR ETN | 64.77% | 4.82% | 12.85 |
| OILK | ProShares K-1 Free Crude Oil Strategy ETF | 44.08% | 2.87% | 92.29 |
| GRU | ELEMENTS Linked to ICE BofAML Commodity index eXtra Grains - Total Return ETN | 37.00% | 5.71% | 14.63 |
| MLPO | Credit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN | 35.52% | 15.01% | 26.48 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF | 35.20% | -5.87% | 348.28 |
| RJI | Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Total Return ETN | 31.40% | 2.25% | 155.63 |
| FUE | ELEMENTS Linked to the ICE BofAML Commodity Index eXtra Biofuels - Total Return ETN | 26.00% | 2.16% | 2.41 |
| RJA | Elements Rogers International Commodity Index-Agriculture TR ETN | 22.77% | 2.71% | 262.79 |
| VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF | 17.40% | -2.31% | 109.64 |
| TADS | The Active Dividend Stock ETF | 17.40% | 0.00% | 109.64 |
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.
