Investors Add Money To ETFs Despite Market Turbulence

Senior ETF Analyst

May 16, 2022

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

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.

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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Investors Add Money To ETFs Despite Market Turbulence

Investors Add Money To ETFs Despite Market Turbulence

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