Weekly ETF Flows: MBS Shake-Up Steals the Spotlight
- Investors added a tepid $6.2 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs last week.
- The Schwab Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (SMBS) took in a whopping $4.9 billion in new money.
U.S.-listed ETFs took in a modest $6.2 billion during the week ending Friday, April 25, continuing a tepid stretch for flows as markets remained choppy.
U.S. equity ETFs once again shed assets, seeing $840.8 million in outflows for the week. That weakness was offset by inflows of $3.3 billion into currency ETFs, $1.4 billion into international equity ETFs, and $1.7 billion into international fixed income ETFs. Inverse ETFs also pulled in $1.1 billion, while U.S. fixed income ETFs saw a comparatively smaller $348.9 million of inflows.
Year-to-date net inflows now stand at $349 billion.
MBS Shake-Up
The biggest flows story of the week was a dramatic shift within the mortgage-backed securities space. The Schwab Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (SMBS), which only launched in November and had $52 million in assets before last week, took in a whopping $4.9 billion in new money. At the same time, the much larger Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF (VMBS) experienced a nearly identical outflow of $4.8 billion.
The massive moves suggest portfolio reallocations rather than a sudden surge of new interest in the MBS category. VMBS's assets under management dropped from more than $19 billion to around $14.4 billion as a result.
Outside of the MBS shuffle, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) topped the inflows list, picking up $2.5 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) also had a strong showing with $1.3 billion of inflows, while the iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF (SGOV) continued to benefit from investor demand for short-term safety, pulling in $1.2 billion.
On the outflows side, VMBS led the pack, followed by the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which saw $4.6 billion exit. Other notable outflows included $2.7 billion from the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), $1.7 billion from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), $1.6 billion from the iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) and $1.3 billion apiece from the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH).
For a full list of the top inflows and outflows from last week, see the tables below.
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change< |
| SMBS | Schwab Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF | 4,866.02 | 4,957.61 | 98.15 |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 2,467.50 | 595,814.84 | 0.41 |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,552.27 | 437,024.79 | 0.36 |
| IBIT | iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF | 1,286.56 | 54,811.90 | 2.35 |
| SCHG | Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth ETF | 1,264.35 | 36,656.31 | 3.45 |
| SGOV | iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF | 1,171.95 | 44,978.13 | 2.61 |
| SPLG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF | 1,154.13 | 60,655.06 | 1.90 |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | 1,131.09 | 36,122.47 | 3.13 |
| SCMB | Schwab Municipal Bond ETF | 1,090.95 | 1,750.09 | 62.34 |
| SPTI | SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Treasury ETF | 706.75 | 8,608.36 | 8.21 |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| VMBS | Vanguard Mortgage-Backed Securities ETF | -4,826.18 | 14,303.80 | -33.74 |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust Series I | -4,620.49 | 294,182.73 | -1.57 |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -2,717.68 | 554,565.71 | -0.49 |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,742.14 | 568,040.10 | -0.31 |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | -1,584.73 | 27,759.24 | -5.71 |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -1,269.73 | 59,505.77 | -2.13 |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | -1,266.60 | 19,425.77 | -6.52 |
| VCLT | Vanguard Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF | -960.85 | 12,311.98 | -7.80 |
| IWF | iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF | -813.56 | 95,840.24 | -0.85 |
| TQQQ | ProShares UltraPro QQQ | -751.01 | 20,374.41 | -3.69 |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| Alternatives | 197.35 | 9,824.63 | 2.01% |
| Asset Allocation | 83.55 | 23,465.35 | 0.36% |
| Commodities ETFs | -31.97 | 213,110.32 | -0.02% |
| Currency | 3,279.18 | 119,088.96 | 2.75% |
| International Equity | 1,419.75 | 1,657,988.72 | 0.09% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,732.88 | 278,219.63 | 0.62% |
| Inverse | 1,060.79 | 14,944.71 | 7.10% |
| Leveraged | -1,034.92 | 103,805.18 | -1.00% |
| US Equity | -840.76 | 6,300,077.85 | -0.01% |
| US Fixed Income | 348.88 | 1,637,039.85 | 0.02% |
| Total: | 6,214.75 | 10,357,565.20 | 0.06% |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data are believed to be accurate; however, transient market data are often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
