'SPY' AUM Tops $300B, Fueling Big Weekly ETF Inflows

Senior ETF Analyst

Jan 26, 2018

Reviewed by: Sumit Roy

Edited by: Sumit Roy

The speed at which the U.S. stock market is rising has some investors feeling dizzy. With three trading sessions left in the first month of the year, the S&P 500 is already up more than 7%.

To see why that is, look no further than what is going on in the world of ETFs. This week, investors bought up $16.6 billion worth of U.S.-listed ETFs, bringing the haul for 2018 as a whole to $50.6 billion.

Of this week's inflows, $8 billion went into U.S. equity ETFs, according to FactSet. The data, which covers the week ending Thursday, Jan. 25, also showed that $5.4 billion raced into international equity ETFs. International stocks are on a streak of 10-straight weeks of gains, the longest run of that kind since 1999.

SPY Eclipses $300B
The ETF to benefit the most from investors "partying like it's 1999" is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). The world's largest ETF took in $6.2 billion this week, bringing its total assets under management to a whopping $302.3 billion, a new record.

Other low-cost, broad market ETFs like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) also took in sizable amounts of money this week, but nowhere near SPY's take.

One sector ETF, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU), pulled in a cool $566 million this week even as utility stocks struggled due to rising interest rates.

Bond ETFs Sold
On the outflows side, bond ETFs fared the worst, as bond prices fell and yields ticked up. The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG) all made an appearance on the outflows list.

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	6,210.59	302,321.08	2.10%
QQQ	PowerShares QQQ Trust	847.40	63,807.90	1.35%
VOO	Vanguard S&P 500 ETF	799.51	90,719.34	0.89%
VWO	Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF	684.50	73,613.58	0.94%
XLU	Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund	565.94	7,653.10	7.99%
IWM	iShares Russell 2000 ETF	531.33	44,548.33	1.21%
IEFA	iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF	418.59	46,759.93	0.90%
DIA	SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust	403.98	25,300.93	1.62%
EEM	iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF	386.39	44,409.51	0.88%
EWJ	iShares MSCI Japan ETF	380.75	22,593.25	1.71%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

Ticker	Name	Net Flows ($,mm)	AUM ($, mm)	AUM % Change
LQD	iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF	-612.25	36,628.79	-1.64%
HYG	iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF	-542.29	16,382.03	-3.20%
XLY	Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund	-522.78	13,643.58	-3.69%
XLF	Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-448.90	34,500.58	-1.28%
XLV	Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund	-406.35	17,292.62	-2.30%
IWF	iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF	-352.66	42,221.93	-0.83%
XLI	Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund	-326.41	15,404.73	-2.07%
AGG	iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF	-259.58	53,155.97	-0.49%
VNQ	Vanguard REIT ETF	-253.87	33,095.28	-0.76%
IWD	iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF	-240.23	40,444.84	-0.59%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

	Net Flows ($, mm)	AUM ($, mm)	% of AUM
U.S. Equity	7,982.60	2,052,337.84	0.39%
International Equity	5,389.95	876,459.50	0.61%
U.S. Fixed Income	559.30	523,886.87	0.11%
International Fixed Income	951.75	63,194.93	1.51%
Commodities	865.86	70,708.65	1.22%
Currency	72.03	1,311.78	5.49%
Leveraged	153.84	38,183.04	0.40%
Inverse	564.62	15,782.92	3.58%
Asset Allocation	13.67	9,271.72	0.15%
Alternatives	39.15	4,580.78	0.85%
Total:	16,592.76	3,655,718.02	0.45%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Ticker	Name	Average Volume (30 Day)	1 Week Average Volume	% of Average
MFEM	PIMCO RAFI Dynamic Multi-Factor Emerging Markets Equity ETF	15,198	44,921	295.58%
ZMLP	Direxion Zacks MLP High Income Index Shares	52,050	152,143	292.30%
PPH	VanEck Vectors Pharmaceutical ETF	71,790	160,594	223.70%
SPIB	SPDR Portfolio Intermediate Term Corporate Bond ETF	1,033,304	2,372,735	229.63%
XRLV	PowerShares S&P 500 ex-Rate Sensitive Low Volatility Portfolio	38,781	83,844	216.20%
UITB	USAA Core Intermediate-Term Bond ETF	15,877	28,926	182.19%
IXN	iShares Global Tech ETF	62,125	137,774	221.77%
IVLU	iShares Edge MSCI Intl Value Factor ETF	26,221	66,324	252.94%
DBAW	Xtrackers MSCI All World ex U.S. Hedged Equity ETF	18,368	30,716	167.22%
KBA	KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A Share ETF	57,653	125,994	218.54%

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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'SPY' AUM Tops $300B, Fueling Big Weekly ETF Inflows

'SPY' AUM Tops $300B, Fueling Big Weekly ETF Inflows

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