Investors Race To Safety Of Bond ETFs
U.S. fixed income ETFs attracted nearly $3 billion this week.
In a week marked by escalating concerns about a global epidemic of coronavirus—and its impact on markets—investors poured nearly $3 billion into U.S.-listed fixed income ETFs.
In the past week ended Thursday, Jan. 30, ETF investors were opting for some of the biggest and broadest investment-grade strategies. Among them, the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) and the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) took in a combined $1.2 billion in fresh net assets.
The flip side of that was sizable outflows seen from riskier, junk bonds—the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), for example, led the week’s redemptions with net outflows of some $1.6 billion in assets.
In aggregate, the U.S. ETF market attracted a net of $5.6 billion in net new assets, finishing the month with about $4.5 trillion in total assets under management.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 2,048.05 | 75,175.00 | 2.72% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 1,186.64 | 206,335.02 | 0.58% |
| SDY | SPDR S&P Dividend ETF | 1,054.56 | 20,509.18 | 5.14% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 826.68 | 134,437.18 | 0.61% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 795.19 | 311,828.15 | 0.26% |
| BND | Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | 740.02 | 51,251.75 | 1.44% |
| SPHD | Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF | 634.59 | 4,349.97 | 14.59% |
| LMBS | First Trust Low Duration Opportunities ETF | 610.02 | 4,699.65 | 12.98% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 596.61 | 18,756.19 | 3.18% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 524.52 | 72,415.28 | 0.72% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -1,613.74 | 17,880.93 | -9.02% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -895.97 | 24,738.05 | -3.62% |
| EEM | iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | -817.10 | 29,639.89 | -2.76% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -782.29 | 44,944.09 | -1.74% |
| SPSM | SPDR Portfolio S&P 600 Small Cap ETF | -769.78 | 1,627.35 | -47.30% |
| XLP | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund | -744.08 | 13,108.90 | -5.68% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | -675.43 | 89,601.27 | -0.75% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | -604.02 | 27,709.31 | -2.18% |
| SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -534.46 | 17,052.54 | -3.13% |
| XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -527.21 | 12,181.54 | -4.33% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 326.05 | 2,574,883.71 | 0.01% |
| International Equity | 1,105.98 | 896,900.74 | 0.12% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,936.78 | 782,760.59 | 0.38% |
| International Fixed Income | 73.28 | 93,671.27 | 0.08% |
| Commodities ETFs | 620.13 | 85,160.10 | 0.73% |
| Currency | -16.79 | 1,396.58 | -1.20% |
| Leveraged | 306.38 | 41,080.03 | 0.75% |
| Inverse | 234.64 | 11,859.20 | 1.98% |
| Asset Allocation | -12.42 | 10,923.84 | -0.11% |
| Alternatives | 52.33 | 4,906.27 | 1.07% |
| Total: | 5,626.35 | 4,503,542.33 | 0.12% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 15,740.50 | 2,574,883.71 | 0.61% |
| International Equity | 11,365.65 | 896,900.74 | 1.27% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 15,125.25 | 782,760.59 | 1.93% |
| International Fixed Income | 2,392.28 | 93,671.27 | 2.55% |
| Commodities ETFs | 2,008.61 | 85,160.10 | 2.36% |
| Currency | 39.30 | 1,396.58 | 2.81% |
| Leveraged | 735.62 | 41,080.03 | 1.79% |
| Inverse | 373.99 | 11,859.20 | 3.15% |
| Asset Allocation | 208.31 | 10,923.84 | 1.91% |
| Alternatives | 346.27 | 4,906.27 | 7.06% |
| Total: | 48,335.78 | 4,503,542.33 | 1.07% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| OPER | ClearShares Ultra-Short Maturity ETF | 6,078 | 26,860 | 441.90% |
| YGRN | MicroSectors U.S. Big Oil Index Inverse ETN | 37 | 183 | 493.92% |
| FNK | First Trust Mid Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | 6,110 | 23,941 | 391.84% |
| MLPB | ETRACS Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index ETN Series B | 10,892 | 47,899 | 439.76% |
| USHY | iShares Broad USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 995,766 | 3,123,387 | 313.67% |
| DFJ | WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend Fund | 64,149 | 139,857 | 218.02% |
| GSST | Goldman Sachs Access Ultra Short Bond ETF | 16,395 | 28,818 | 175.77% |
| YLD | Principal Active Income ETF | 8,372 | 20,707 | 247.34% |
| FTXO | First Trust Nasdaq Bank ETF | 48,157 | 97,095 | 201.62% |
| VRIG | Invesco Variable Rate Investment Grade ETF | 109,798 | 227,321 | 207.04% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| VXX | iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN | 4.28% | 271,257,065 | 995.69 |
| VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term Futures ETF | 4.18% | 23,782,378 | 301.63 |
| VIIX | VelocityShares Daily Long VIX Short-Term ETN | 4.08% | 232,127 | 20.49 |
| ZROZ | PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon US Treasury Index ETF | 2.48% | 259,595 | 318.47 |
| EDV | Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF | 2.20% | 919,796 | 1,237.71 |
| VXZ | iPath Series B S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN | 2.19% | 300,749 | 23.25 |
| VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-Term Futures ETF | 1.88% | 609,311 | 48.14 |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 1.75% | 37,725,600 | 19,205.86 |
| SCHQ | Schwab Long-Term U.S. Treasury ETF | 1.74% | 38,746 | 20.08 |
| VGLT | Vanguard Long-Term Treasury Index ETF | 1.73% | 922,420 | 1,713.49 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| PALL | Aberdeen Standard Physical Palladium Shares ETF | 19.09% | -4.93% | 364.67 |
| NIB | iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN | 11.85% | -0.25% | 22.32 |
| ARKW | ARK Next Generation Internet ETF | 11.51% | 0.33% | 457.26 |
| WCLD | WisdomTree Cloud Computing Fund | 11.11% | 0.62% | 21.01 |
| ZROZ | PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon US Treasury Index ETF | 10.03% | 2.48% | 318.47 |
| CLOU | Global X Cloud Computing ETF | 9.70% | -0.17% | 455.64 |
| ITB | iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF | 9.46% | 0.62% | 1,446.71 |
| ACES | ALPS Clean Energy ETF | 9.33% | 0.29% | 138.81 |
| EDV | Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury ETF | 9.19% | 2.20% | 1,237.71 |
| FNGS | MicroSectors FANG+ ETN | 8.91% | 0.15% | 35.66 |
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.
