Investors Shrug Off Vol, Add $16B To ETFs

Senior ETF Analyst

Dec 14, 2018

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

Economic concerns may be growing and stocks may be getting walloped, but that hasn’t concerned ETF investors—yet. According to the latest data from FactSet, a sizable $16.2 billion flowed into U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Dec. 13, with inflows seen in asset classes across the board.

That’s in sharp contrast to data released by the likes of Lipper, which showed record outflows from equity mutual funds. More than $45 billion came out of equity mutual funds during the week ending Wednesday, Dec. 12, according to the analytics firm.

Bolstered by this week’s fresh cash, ETF inflows for 2018 as a whole ticked up to $278 billion.

Equity Winners

Of this week’s ETF inflows, $8.5 billion went into U.S. equity exchange-traded funds. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) and the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD) were a few names in that category to garner inflows.

Meanwhile, international equity ETFs also saw interest, picking up $5 billion of new money. The Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA), the iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF (ACWX) and the iShares MSCI ACWI ETF (ACWI) were winners in that space.

ETF investors shrugged off continued volatility in global stock markets. Aside from the ongoing trade and Brexit sagas, economic data has weakened significantly in China and Europe, giving investors another aspect to worry about.

Treasury Yields Drop

That worry has led investors to hedge their equity bets with fixed income. U.S. fixed-income ETFs picked up $2.8 billion during the week, though the largest share of that went into the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), a decidedly unsafe bond ETF.

JNK’s $880 million of inflows were followed by the $674 million that went into the iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) and the $506 million that went into the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG).

During the week, the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield briefly dipped to 2.82%, close to a four-month low.

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
SPY	SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust	1,420.72	253,549.99	0.56%
VEA	Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF	1,115.58	66,905.09	1.67%
JNK	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF	880.38	8,128.82	10.83%
XLV	Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund	876.54	20,447.63	4.29%
IWD	iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	873.52	38,623.45	2.26%
XLK	Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund	738.51	19,195.25	3.85%
ACWX	iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. ETF	684.44	4,255.30	16.08%
SHY	iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF	673.95	17,826.61	3.78%
ACWI	iShares MSCI ACWI ETF	540.80	9,922.83	5.45%
AGG	iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF	506.00	55,073.89	0.92%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
IVV	iShares Core S&P 500 ETF	-1,275.35	155,170.54	-0.82%
HYG	iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-1,185.27	12,895.86	-9.19%
XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-771.38	25,521.85	-3.02%
FLOT	iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF	-454.56	11,734.62	-3.87%
SRLN	SPDR Blackstone / GSO Senior Loan ETF	-421.04	2,723.94	-15.46%
FLRN	SPDR Bloomberg Barclays Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF	-338.20	4,297.58	-7.87%
TLT	iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF	-331.92	7,406.48	-4.48%
MDY	SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust	-331.67	17,907.40	-1.85%
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	-327.26	8,422.86	-3.89%
IJH	iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF	-278.90	44,925.05	-0.62%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	8,523.89	2,001,349.45	0.43%
International Equity	5,011.62	752,119.33	0.67%
U.S. Fixed Income	2,831.12	577,219.98	0.49%
International Fixed Income	-395.36	66,432.42	-0.60%
Commodities	314.49	60,831.59	0.52%
Currency	-6.22	1,754.39	-0.35%
Leveraged	-279.68	33,720.49	-0.83%
Inverse	-33.08	11,869.00	-0.28%
Asset Allocation	215.07	9,167.52	2.35%
Alternatives	-27.51	4,945.69	-0.56%
Total:	16,154.34	3,519,409.86	0.46%

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	123,827.94	2,001,349.45	6.19%
International Equity	59,963.13	752,119.33	7.97%
U.S. Fixed Income	73,302.27	577,219.98	12.70%
International Fixed Income	11,214.97	66,432.42	16.88%
Commodities	-449.35	60,831.59	-0.74%
Currency	-113.09	1,754.39	-6.45%
Leveraged	6,743.48	33,720.49	20.00%
Inverse	2,138.24	11,869.00	18.02%
Asset Allocation	993.82	9,167.52	10.84%
Alternatives	392.09	4,945.69	7.93%
Total:	278,013.50	3,519,409.86	7.90%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
DIVC	C-Tracks ETN - Miller/Howard Strategic Dividend Reinvestor	6	43	675.00%
FPEI	First Trust Institutional Preferred Securities and Income ETF	53,090	165,793	312.28%
INCO	Columbia India Consumer ETF	14,419	39,361	272.98%
SIZE	iShares Edge MSCI U.S.A. Size Factor ETF	20,876	56,161	269.02%
EMQQ	Emerging Markets Internet & Ecommerce ETF	151,400	389,530	257.28%
PXLV	Invesco Russell Top 200 Pure Value ETF	15,804	40,245	254.66%
CDL	VictoryShares US Large Cap High Div Volatility Wtd Index ETF	36,916	84,515	228.94%
JPMF	JPMorgan Managed Futures Strategy ETF	2,035	6,193	304.26%
SMLF	iShares Edge MSCI Multifactor U.S.A. Small-Cap ETF	83,826	195,228	232.90%
PBJ	Invesco Dynamic Food & Beverage ETF	9,345	19,691	210.71%

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 Shrug Off Vol, Add $16B To ETFs

Investors Shrug Off Vol, Add $16B To ETFs

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