Investors Flock To Fixed Income ETFs
Fixed income ETFs powered this week’s net inflows of $6 billion.
Investors tiptoed back into ETFs this week after pulling money out of the space in August. On net, nearly $6 billion flowed into U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Sep. 5, according to FactSet. That puts year-to-date inflows at $150.7 billion, less than the $176.1 billion at this same time last year.
As seen all year long, most of this week’s inflows went into U.S. fixed income ETFs. That segment picked up $3.7 billion, led by a $1.1 billion inflow into the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT).
The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), the Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCIT), the iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) and the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEI) also saw strong interest during the week.
Markets continue to expect the Fed to cut rates later this month, but yields on Treasuries spiked from their recent lows following the release of better-than-expected economic data and word that the U.S. and China would hold trade talks next month.
Investors Tepid On Equities
Meanwhile, on the equities side, a modest $258 million and $942 million flowed into U.S. and international ETFs, respectively.
Stocks bounced back thanks to better economic data and trade talk hopes, but growth concerns kept investors from adding to their holdings more aggressively.
The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), the Invesco Russell 1000 Dynamic Multifactor ETF (OMFL) and the iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol U.S.A. ETF (USMV) were among the most popular equity ETFs of the week.
The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) also saw some interest as gold prices hit fresh six-year highs. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) had inflows of nearly half a billion of its own during the week.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 1,090.43 | 17,864.08 | 6.10% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 820.33 | 19,141.49 | 4.29% |
| VCIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF | 578.46 | 24,654.06 | 2.35% |
| SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 501.64 | 18,180.76 | 2.76% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 496.73 | 118,814.72 | 0.42% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | 473.23 | 44,226.62 | 1.07% |
| OMFL | Invesco Russell 1000 Dynamic Multifactor ETF | 469.52 | 1,526.70 | 30.75% |
| USMV | iShares Edge MSCI Min Vol U.S.A. ETF | 358.30 | 33,959.03 | 1.06% |
| GDX | VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF | 343.35 | 12,563.77 | 2.73% |
| IEI | iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 319.34 | 7,869.77 | 4.06% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -720.68 | 16,617.63 | -4.34% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -543.89 | 262,271.45 | -0.21% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | -539.71 | 35,915.87 | -1.50% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -365.28 | 39,313.87 | -0.93% |
| IJR | iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF | -315.54 | 42,608.03 | -0.74% |
| XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | -302.02 | 16,482.42 | -1.83% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | -265.41 | 24,063.72 | -1.10% |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | -250.66 | 21,241.10 | -1.18% |
| IWV | iShares Russell 3000 ETF | -205.81 | 9,426.49 | -2.18% |
| SPTL | SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF | -194.50 | 2,565.21 | -7.58% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 258.27 | 2,247,118.06 | 0.01% |
| International Equity | 941.71 | 792,067.36 | 0.12% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 3,724.20 | 720,574.56 | 0.52% |
| International Fixed Income | 403.41 | 82,095.29 | 0.49% |
| Commodities | 619.49 | 81,765.34 | 0.76% |
| Currency | 15.55 | 1,500.98 | 1.04% |
| Leveraged | -482.49 | 36,940.57 | -1.31% |
| Inverse | 384.75 | 12,623.39 | 3.05% |
| Asset Allocation | 47.29 | 9,940.82 | 0.48% |
| Alternatives | 78.16 | 4,476.70 | 1.75% |
| Total: | 5,990.34 | 3,989,103.06 | 0.15% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 48,039.88 | 2,247,118.06 | 2.14% |
| International Equity | -3,245.60 | 792,067.36 | -0.41% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 88,767.33 | 720,574.56 | 12.32% |
| International Fixed Income | 11,478.35 | 82,095.29 | 13.98% |
| Commodities | 6,517.27 | 81,765.34 | 7.97% |
| Currency | -287.40 | 1,500.98 | -19.15% |
| Leveraged | -5,968.93 | 36,940.57 | -16.16% |
| Inverse | 4,816.34 | 12,623.39 | 38.15% |
| Asset Allocation | 83.43 | 9,940.82 | 0.84% |
| Alternatives | 474.33 | 4,476.70 | 10.60% |
| Total: | 150,675.00 | 3,989,103.06 | 3.78% |
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.
