Investors Plow Into Treasury ETFs This Week
U.S. fixed income ETFs had inflows of $10.4 billion, most of that targeted at Treasury bond ETFs.
Treasuries, Treasuries and more Treasuries. That’s what ETF investors were interested in this week as bond prices surged and interest rates tumbled. All throughout the week, expectations grew that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year, as economic data weakens and the U.S. fights trade wars on multiple fronts.
The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield plunged to as low as 2.05%. The yield accelerated to the downside after payroll processor ADP reported that private employers only added 27,000 jobs in May. The official government jobs report on Friday wasn’t as weak, but also showed a marked deceleration in job growth, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by only 75,000.
Futures markets now expect the Fed to cut rates as early as the July meeting, and then again in September.
Hefty Treasury ETF Inflows
With rate cut expectations picking up steam, investors plowed $10.4 billion into U.S. fixed income ETFs, including billions into the iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF), the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL).
Seven of the 10 ETFs on the top inflows list were bond funds, most of them focused on Treasuries.
Safe haven gold also caught a bid; the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) garnered weekly inflows of $694 million.
Net Outflows For Equity ETFs
On the flip side, U.S. equity ETFs and international equity ETFs had modest outflows this week. The S&P 500 fell as much as 7.6% below its all-time high before snapping back vigorously on Fed rate cut hopes.
The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) were the biggest equity ETF flows winners. On the other hand, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ) topped the outflows list.
Year-to-date inflows for all U.S.-listed ETFs now stand at $75.2 billion, compared with $119.7 billion at this same time last year.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 1,844.71 | 16,169.06 | 11.41% |
BIL | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | 1,313.15 | 9,236.19 | 14.22% |
ITE | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Intermediate Term Treasury ETF | 933.45 | 1,662.54 | 56.15% |
SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 916.70 | 21,236.80 | 4.32% |
SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 768.81 | 20,853.33 | 3.69% |
VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 763.97 | 109,805.45 | 0.70% |
GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | 693.95 | 32,506.19 | 2.13% |
AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 650.07 | 62,635.31 | 1.04% |
SPTL | SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF | 606.33 | 2,525.62 | 24.01% |
IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 604.32 | 174,664.53 | 0.35% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -735.93 | 67,809.84 | -1.09% |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -678.22 | 255,862.67 | -0.27% |
EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | -579.00 | 12,308.88 | -4.70% |
BKLN | Invesco Senior Loan ETF | -557.25 | 4,109.48 | -13.56% |
XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -474.49 | 23,484.67 | -2.02% |
MDY | SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust | -423.87 | 18,700.95 | -2.27% |
JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -380.77 | 7,855.52 | -4.85% |
XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | -359.71 | 20,241.25 | -1.78% |
EZU | iShares MSCI Eurozone ETF | -345.32 | 6,044.32 | -5.71% |
VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | -343.43 | 111,230.84 | -0.31% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | -744.67 | 2,148,428.78 | -0.03% |
International Equity | -2,302.19 | 801,791.54 | -0.29% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 10,446.68 | 663,892.59 | 1.57% |
International Fixed Income | 548.54 | 74,332.50 | 0.74% |
Commodities | 814.04 | 62,920.14 | 1.29% |
Currency | 22.15 | 1,533.08 | 1.45% |
Leveraged | -202.30 | 35,168.97 | -0.58% |
Inverse | 93.20 | 12,462.79 | 0.75% |
Asset Allocation | -110.50 | 9,343.00 | -1.18% |
Alternatives | 18.85 | 4,572.86 | 0.41% |
Total: | 8,583.82 | 3,814,446.26 | 0.23% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | 13,734.21 | 2,148,428.78 | 0.64% |
International Equity | 6,022.14 | 801,791.54 | 0.75% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 50,719.45 | 663,892.59 | 7.64% |
International Fixed Income | 6,202.90 | 74,332.50 | 8.34% |
Commodities | -2,101.30 | 62,920.14 | -3.34% |
Currency | -258.50 | 1,533.08 | -16.86% |
Leveraged | -1,977.74 | 35,168.97 | -5.62% |
Inverse | 2,841.48 | 12,462.79 | 22.80% |
Asset Allocation | -603.80 | 9,343.00 | -6.46% |
Alternatives | 588.87 | 4,572.86 | 12.88% |
Total: | 75,167.70 | 3,814,446.26 | 1.97% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
DBEM | Xtrackers MSCI Emerging Markets Hedged Equity ETF | 28,118 | 122,329 | 435.06% |
HEEM | iShares Currency Hedged MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 114,143 | 475,474 | 416.56% |
XTL | SPDR S&P Telecom ETF | 19,349 | 84,463 | 436.52% |
IQIN | IQ 500 International ETF | 100,403 | 289,909 | 288.75% |
SPTS | SPDR Portfolio Short Term Treasury ETF | 579,053 | 1,854,220 | 320.22% |
YLD | Principal Active Income ETF | 2,387 | 6,115 | 256.22% |
HAP | VanEck Vectors Natural Resources ETF | 6,599 | 17,771 | 269.31% |
DALI | First Trust Dorsey Wright DALI 1 ETF | 13,233 | 25,236 | 190.71% |
SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 1,953,799 | 5,879,113 | 300.91% |
SPIB | SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond ETF | 1,276,349 | 3,679,869 | 288.31% |
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.