Investors Buy Into Small Caps, ESG in Strong Week for ETF Inflow

Flows into U.S. equity exchange-traded funds accelerated last week.

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sumit
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Senior ETF Analyst
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Reviewed by: Lisa Barr
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Edited by: Lisa Barr

A cool $18.1 billion flowed into U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds last week as investors bought into small cap stocks.  

Aggregate year-to-date inflows for all ETFs now stand at $169.2 billion, which compares to $281.7 billion at this same time a year ago. 

While still well behind last year’s pace, the latest batch of inflows helped to narrow the gap. A stealth rally in the S&P 500, which has pushed the index more than 20% above its October lows, has certainly helped. 

Investors are now even starting to embrace U.S. stock ETFs after having shunned them for much of this year.  

U.S. equity ETFs have year-to-date inflows of $31.7 billion—behind the $44.8 billion of inflows for international equity ETFs and the $81.3 billion of inflows for U.S. fixed income ETFs—but much better than where they were just a few weeks ago (around zero).  

Smaller Stocks Embraced  

About a third of this year’s inflows into U.S. stock ETFs came last week, and leading the way was the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM), which gathered $3.4 billion in new assets during the week ending Friday, June 9. 

IWM has been surging since the start of the month, as investors reason that an end to the Fed’s rate hikes will provide support for smaller firms.  

On a month-to-date basis, IWM is up 7.1%, more than double the 3.3% gain for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). However, on a year-to-date basis, the small cap fund is still lagging, with a return of 7.1% versus 13.3%. 

Some investors have been betting that the performance gap between smaller stocks and larger stocks will close in the second half of the year. 

That would be helpful for not just IWM, but the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) as well. That fund took the No. 4 spot on the weekly inflows list, with creations of $1.1 billion. 

Sandwiched between IWM and RSP on the top weekly inflows list is the iShares Climate Conscious & Transition MSCI USA ETF (USCL), a brand new ESG fund that secured a $2.1 billion investment from Finland’s largest pension insurance company. 

For a full list of last week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:    

 

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
IWMiShares Russell 2000 ETF3,385.5756,551.585.99%
USCLiShares Climate Conscious & Transition MSCI USA ETF2,119.132,121.6399.88%
IEFAiShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF1,467.0497,970.081.50%
RSPInvesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF1,067.6935,061.493.05%
QQQMInvesco NASDAQ 100 ETF1,059.2812,252.018.65%
SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust907.85406,971.680.22%
VOOVanguard 500 Index Fund812.98306,046.670.27%
EFAiShares MSCI EAFE ETF722.3549,461.241.46%
IEMGiShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF704.3471,027.380.99%
EWJiShares MSCI Japan ETF685.0712,231.845.60%


 

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
SUSLiShares ESG MSCI USA Leaders ETF-2,118.811,225.11-172.95%
QQQInvesco QQQ Trust-1,963.19190,299.06-1.03%
SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust-1,167.55406,971.68-0.29%
SPYGSPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF-920.9316,708.97-5.51%
FXZFirst Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund-721.70761.90-94.72%
LQDiShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF-665.9334,542.07-1.93%
XONEBondBloxx Bloomberg One Year Target Duration US Treasury ETF-509.47187.61-271.56%
XLEEnergy Select Sector SPDR Fund-506.3734,890.07-1.45%
SOXXiShares Semiconductor ETF-482.148,571.89-5.62%
TQQQProShares UltraPro QQQ-476.1815,338.20-3.10%


 

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

 Net Flows ($, mm)AUM ($, mm)% of AUM
U.S. Equity9,298.564,242,038.630.22%
International Equity7,269.741,278,278.360.57%
U.S. Fixed Income2,345.651,246,597.500.19%
International Fixed Income1,031.16149,009.800.69%
Commodities-720.44135,438.12-0.53%
Currency-96.352,975.53-3.24%
Leveraged-714.1163,499.95-1.12%
Inverse-380.0620,939.57-1.82%
Asset Allocation5.8715,826.330.04%
Alternatives42.597,126.300.60%
Total:18,082.607,161,730.090.25%


 

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

 Net Flows ($, mm)AUM ($, mm)% of AUM
U.S. Equity31,699.794,242,038.630.75%
International Equity44,780.871,278,278.363.50%
U.S. Fixed Income81,320.981,246,597.506.52%
International Fixed Income9,260.48149,009.806.21%
Commodities119.40135,438.120.09%
Currency-980.382,975.53-32.95%
Leveraged-21.5863,499.95-0.03%
Inverse5,391.9320,939.5725.75%
Asset Allocation-2,417.7615,826.33-15.28%
Alternatives49.957,126.300.70%
Total:169,203.677,161,730.092.36%


 

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

TickerNameWeekly PerformanceWeekly VolumeAUM ($, mm)
KSETKraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF17.51%58,6330.98
BWETBreakwave Tanker Shipping ETF10.52%6,4413.13
KBWRInvesco KBW Regional Banking ETF8.23%84,96364.12
QABAFirst Trust NASDAQ ABA Community Bank Index Fund7.91%197,80981.12
KRESPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF7.15%104,227,2363,547.69
CHIRGlobal X MSCI China Real Estate ETF6.79%16,4366.21
XRTSPDR S&P Retail ETF6.54%28,206,542542.98
XSVMInvesco S&P SmallCap Value with Momentum ETF6.19%327,859609.78
RZVInvesco S&P SmallCap 600 Pure Value ETF6.15%35,341239.75
PSCFInvesco S&P SmallCap Financials ETF6.11%5,79222.81


 

Top 10 YTD Performers

TickerNameYTD PerformanceWeekly PerformanceAUM ($, mm)
WGMIValkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF134.00%0.48%9.89
DAPPVanEck Digital Transformation ETF110.11%0.54%35.66
BITQBitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF99.41%-0.15%72.83
BKCHGlobal X Blockchain ETF88.51% 66.90
SATOInvesco Alerian Galaxy Crypto Economy ETF87.03%0.73%3.67
IBLCiShares Blockchain and Tech ETF75.73%-0.09%6.88
BITSGlobal X Blockchain and Bitcoin Strategy ETF72.58%1.57%11.11
FNGSMicroSectors FANG+ ETN65.96%-0.19%96.11
BITOProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF57.47%3.98%855.28
XBTFVanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF56.60%3.99%39.43


 

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 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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