Strong Earnings Fuel Strong Weekly ETF Flows

Investors added $11 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs this week, according to FactSet.

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sumit
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Senior ETF Analyst
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Reviewed by: Sumit Roy
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Edited by: Sumit Roy

A strong start to the corporate earnings season led the U.S. stock market to a one-month high this week. The S&P 500 briefly touched 2,717 on Wednesday before slipping back below 2,700 on Thursday. Still, sentiment is decidedly more positive than it was only a few weeks ago, when trade war fears were front and center.

The positive momentum in the stock market inspired investors to plow a solid chunk of change into U.S. equity ETFs—$11 billion in total, including $6.8 billion into U.S. equity ETFs and $1.1 billion into international equity ETFs during the week ending Thursday, April 19.

Year-to-date inflows now stand at $82.1 billion.

A late-week sell-off in bonds spooked investors a bit. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield jumped to as much as 2.95%, the loftiest level in four years. Even so, U.S. fixed-income ETFs managed to pull in $2.2 billion in new money.

The most interesting name on this week’s top inflows list is the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), with creations of $354 million. The VIX hit its lowest level in over a month on Tuesday, at 14.57, which may have prompted some speculators to bet on a rebound.

On the outflows side, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) and the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) were two of the biggest flows losers, with redemptions of around $400 million each. Both ETFs rallied significantly in the past few weeks, so some investors may have used that as an opportunity to take profits.

For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
QQQPowerShares QQQ Trust1,263.6363,449.472.03%
IWMiShares Russell 2000 ETF1,149.9544,455.372.66%
IEMGiShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF799.1051,312.281.58%
SPYSPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust708.46259,841.480.27%
AGGiShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF608.0455,410.091.11%
JNKSPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF540.559,711.625.89%
IVEiShares S&P 500 Value ETF500.3615,487.673.34%
XLIIndustrial Select Sector SPDR Fund493.5513,794.963.71%
SHViShares Short Treasury Bond ETF474.1913,355.333.68%
VXXiPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN353.93972.8957.18%

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

TickerNameNet Flows ($,mm)AUM ($, mm)AUM % Change
LQDiShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF-757.9632,168.81-2.30%
MTUMiShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF-422.637,816.28-5.13%
XLEEnergy Select Sector SPDR Fund-418.0518,595.45-2.20%
GDXVanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF-371.938,351.66-4.26%
XLUUtilities Select Sector SPDR Fund-278.066,816.61-3.92%
XLFFinancial Select Sector SPDR Fund-277.0832,014.27-0.86%
IWDiShares Russell 1000 Value ETF-237.7436,881.92-0.64%
CIUiShares Intermediate Credit Bond ETF-213.506,833.49-3.03%
BILSPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF-178.423,384.65-5.01%
XLPConsumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund-175.467,534.92-2.28%

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

 Net Flows ($, mm)AUM ($, mm)% of AUM
U.S. Equity6,791.911,947,585.470.35%
International Equity1,132.03856,088.160.13%
U.S. Fixed Income2,245.49534,635.310.42%
International Fixed Income457.7264,546.250.71%
Commodities 85.6471,990.330.12%
Currency0.001,428.340.00%
Leveraged-413.6437,155.50-1.11%
Inverse304.7913,379.802.28%
Asset Allocation11.039,236.030.12%
Alternatives380.524,467.048.52%
Total:10,995.503,540,512.240.31%

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

TickerNameAverage Volume
(30 Day)
1 Week Average
Volume
% of Average
JKLiShares Morningstar Small Cap Value ETF7,47518,184243.27%
DIVCC-Tracks ETN - Miller/Howard Strategic Dividend Reinvestor29143483.90%
SMBVanEck Vectors AMT-Free Short Municipal Index ETF66,694140,828211.15%
SLVPiShares MSCI Global Silver Miners ETF50,522117,628232.82%
MXDUNationwide Maximum Diversification U.S. Core Equity ETF9881,450146.76%
FYTFirst Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund20,23834,606171.00%
CUTPowerShares MSCI Global Timber Portfolio26,60656,126210.95%
FNDBSchwab Fundamental US Broad Market Index ETF24,09559,592247.32%
JPMBJPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Sovereign Bond ETF281374133.07%
STOTSPDR DoubleLine Short Duration Total Return Tactical5,7248,176142.83%

 

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 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.