Junk Bond ETFs & Stocks In Favor In Bullish Week
Corporate bond ETFs gained billions in assets as risk appetite returned to financial markets in the week-ending Thursday, Oct. 8.
Stock and bond ETFs saw big inflows in a bullish week for financial markets. The S&P 500 surged higher all week long, bringing its month-to-date gains to more than 5 percent. Unsurprisingly, the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-99) was one of the top asset gainers, bringing in $1.6 billion in the week.
However, edging out SPY for the top spot was a bond fund: the SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK | B-68). Junk bond ETFs were hammered in September, but with stocks rising and risk appetite returning, they found themselves in favor this week.
Some yield-hungry investors may have found the sector attractive after the release of the Fed minutes earlier this week suggested that the central bank was more concerned with global growth than thought, and that it may refrain from hiking interest rates through the end of the year.
JNK wasn't the only high-yield bond ETF to do well. The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD | A-77) and the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG | B-64) followed closely behind, with inflows of $845 million and $687 million, respectively.
Overall, U.S. fixed-income ETFs had inflows of nearly $6 billion, making them the most popular category of the week ending Thursday, Oct. 8. U.S. equity ETFs were the next most popular, with $2.4 billion in net inflows, and international equity ETFs were third, with a net $2.1 billion.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
JNK | SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond | 1,560.00 | 10,853.09 | 16.79% |
SPY | SPDR S&P 500 | 1,556.06 | 176,355.46 | 0.89% |
LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond | 845.17 | 23,069.35 | 3.80% |
HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond | 686.99 | 13,570.51 | 5.33% |
IWM | iShares Russell 2000 | 476.44 | 26,746.34 | 1.81% |
VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 | 433.04 | 36,742.44 | 1.19% |
IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond | 409.87 | 9,747.38 | 4.39% |
ACWX | iShares MSCI ACWI ex U.S. | 343.15 | 2,266.00 | 17.85% |
EFA | iShares MSCI EAFE | 320.27 | 56,887.30 | 0.57% |
BIL | SPDR Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill | 315.28 | 3,381.21 | 10.28% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
VBK | Vanguard Small-Cap Growth | -403.17 | 4,423.98 | -8.35% |
IBB | iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology | -387.75 | 7,932.07 | -4.66% |
QLTA | iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond | -302.05 | 89.39 | -77.16% |
EWG | iShares MSCI Germany | -179.86 | 5,936.58 | -2.94% |
AMLP | Alerian MLP | -179.47 | 7,834.56 | -2.24% |
IWO | iShares Russell 2000 Growth | -159.48 | 6,505.22 | -2.39% |
EUM | ProShares Short MSCI Emerging Markets | -147.57 | 373.74 | -28.31% |
XLE | Energy Select SPDR | -145.75 | 12,440.12 | -1.16% |
UPRO | ProShares UltraPro S&P 500 | -143.18 | 956.23 | -13.02% |
XLK | Technology Select SPDR | -141.54 | 11,739.68 | -1.19% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
U.S. Equity | 2,398.60 | 1,208,849.33 | 0.20% |
International Equity | 2,110.22 | 476,215.11 | 0.44% |
U.S. Fixed Income | 5,972.09 | 320,867.31 | 1.86% |
International Fixed Income | 3.22 | 30,938.17 | 0.01% |
Commodities | 80.40 | 51,459.53 | 0.16% |
Currency | 25.66 | 1,315.06 | 1.95% |
Leveraged | -685.64 | 1,480,837.82 | -0.05% |
Inverse | 3.19 | 1,308,343.16 | 0.00% |
Asset Allocation | -1.63 | 5,285.04 | -0.03% |
Alternatives | 251.39 | 6,821,085.12 | 0.00% |
Total: | 10,157.50 | 11,705,195.64 | 0.09% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
QLTA | iShares Aaa - A Rated Corporate Bond | 235,453 | 1,314,127 | 558.13% |
ITIP | iShares International Inflation-Linked Bond | 25,790 | 130,835 | 507.30% |
CEW | WisdomTree Emerging Currency | 58,851 | 297,807 | 506.03% |
PTF | PowerShares DWA Technology Momentum | 119,036 | 587,199 | 493.30% |
PRN | PowerShares DWA Industrials Momentum | 106,737 | 466,978 | 437.50% |
EFO | ProShares Ultra MSCI EAFE | 5,501 | 22,878 | 415.90% |
EPS | WisdomTree Earnings 500 | 11,512 | 43,372 | 376.77% |
NFLT | Virtus Newfleet Multi-Sector Unconstrained Bond | 52,189 | 188,303 | 360.81% |
SCPB | SPDR Barclays Short Term Corporate Bond | 1,152,679 | 3,785,259 | 328.39% |
IELG | iShares Enhanced U.S. Large-Cap | 14,723 | 47,245 | 320.90% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
FCG | First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas | 30.50% | 11,954,762 | 215.87 |
PSCE | PowerShares S&P SmallCap Energy | 29.54% | 109,915 | 43.37 |
XES | SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services | 24.63% | 5,795,117 | 219.99 |
COPX | Global X Copper Miners | 22.99% | 464,386 | 20.09 |
XOP | SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | 21.71% | 89,706,597 | 1,897.80 |
CU | First Trust ISE Global Copper | 21.28% | 85,267 | 15.72 |
FRAK | Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas | 21.07% | 125,372 | 50.28 |
FXN | First Trust Energy AlphaDEX | 20.96% | 2,473,852 | 264.22 |
IOIL | IQ Global Oil Small Cap | 20.80% | 5,253 | 3.42 |
EIDO | iShares MSCI Indonesia | 20.68% | 4,600,554 | 258.19 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | -32.01% | 1,215,333 | 3.75 |
VIIX | VelocityShares VIX Short Term ETN | -16.08% | 940,225 | 8.63 |
VIXY | ProShares VIX Short-Term | -16.00% | 16,146,875 | 91.14 |
VXZ | iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN | -10.60% | 3,617,909 | 56.00 |
VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-term | -10.31% | 232,323 | 27.82 |
VIIZ | VelocityShares VIX Mid Term ETN | -8.19% | 5,891 | 0.65 |
NGE | Global X MSCI Nigeria | -2.89% | 355,025 | 26.75 |
ALFA | AlphaClone Alternative Alpha | -2.76% | 267,529 | 178.02 |
BTAL | QuantShares U.S. Market Neutral Anti-Beta | -2.73% | 18,519 | 7.19 |
ZROZ | PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury | -2.60% | 119,961 | 184.99 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
CNXT | Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext | 0.27 | 4.15 | 35.80 |
EDEN | iShares MSCI Denmark Capped | 0.19 | 2.37 | 59.71 |
RSX | Market Vectors Russia | 0.18 | 11.05 | 1,943.92 |
ERUS | iShares MSCI Russia Capped | 0.17 | 12.41 | 232.59 |
DXJH | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Health Care | 0.16 | 1.49 | 10.35 |
EIRL | iShares MSCI Ireland Capped | 0.16 | 1.00 | 163.34 |
RBL | SPDR S&P Russia | 0.15 | 12.17 | 25.04 |
DFJ | WisdomTree Japan SmallCap Dividend | 0.14 | 2.46 | 293.46 |
FDN | First Trust Dow Jones Internet | 0.14 | 2.93 | 3,499.00 |
DXJF | WisdomTree Japan Hedged Financials | 0.14 | 4.43 | 25.41 |
Bottom 10 YTD Performers
Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
XTN | SPDR S&P Transportation | -0.57 | 4.64 | 276.23 |
GAZ | iPath Bloomberg Natural Gas Subindex Total Return ETN | -0.55 | 3.86 | 9.07 |
CVOL | C-Tracks Citi Volatility ETN | -0.49 | -22.54 | 3.75 |
XHS | SPDR S&P Health Care Services | -0.49 | -0.47 | 185.21 |
XSD | SPDR S&P Semiconductor | -0.49 | 6.31 | 109.53 |
XSW | SPDR S&P Software & Services | -0.48 | 4.03 | 52.06 |
EWZS | iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap | -0.43 | 8.80 | 25.44 |
BRF | Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap | -0.42 | 9.98 | 69.75 |
BRXX | EGShares Brazil Infrastructure | -0.40 | 8.43 | 9.47 |
IDXJ | Market Vectors Indonesia Small Cap | -0.40 | 11.23 | 6.20 |
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.