Strong Earnings Fuel Strong Weekly ETF Flows
Investors added $11 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs this week, according to FactSet.
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 $400 million each. Both ETFs rallied significantly in the past few weeks, so some investors may have used that as an opportunity to take profits.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QQQ | PowerShares QQQ Trust | 1,263.63 | 63,449.47 | 2.03% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 1,149.95 | 44,455.37 | 2.66% |
| IEMG | iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF | 799.10 | 51,312.28 | 1.58% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 708.46 | 259,841.48 | 0.27% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 608.04 | 55,410.09 | 1.11% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | 540.55 | 9,711.62 | 5.89% |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value ETF | 500.36 | 15,487.67 | 3.34% |
| XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | 493.55 | 13,794.96 | 3.71% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 474.19 | 13,355.33 | 3.68% |
| VXX | iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN | 353.93 | 972.89 | 57.18% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | -757.96 | 32,168.81 | -2.30% |
| MTUM | iShares Edge MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | -422.63 | 7,816.28 | -5.13% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | -418.05 | 18,595.45 | -2.20% |
| GDX | VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF | -371.93 | 8,351.66 | -4.26% |
| XLU | Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund | -278.06 | 6,816.61 | -3.92% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -277.08 | 32,014.27 | -0.86% |
| IWD | iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF | -237.74 | 36,881.92 | -0.64% |
| CIU | iShares Intermediate Credit Bond ETF | -213.50 | 6,833.49 | -3.03% |
| BIL | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | -178.42 | 3,384.65 | -5.01% |
| XLP | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund | -175.46 | 7,534.92 | -2.28% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 6,791.91 | 1,947,585.47 | 0.35% |
| International Equity | 1,132.03 | 856,088.16 | 0.13% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,245.49 | 534,635.31 | 0.42% |
| International Fixed Income | 457.72 | 64,546.25 | 0.71% |
| Commodities | 85.64 | 71,990.33 | 0.12% |
| Currency | 0.00 | 1,428.34 | 0.00% |
| Leveraged | -413.64 | 37,155.50 | -1.11% |
| Inverse | 304.79 | 13,379.80 | 2.28% |
| Asset Allocation | 11.03 | 9,236.03 | 0.12% |
| Alternatives | 380.52 | 4,467.04 | 8.52% |
| Total: | 10,995.50 | 3,540,512.24 | 0.31% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| JKL | iShares Morningstar Small Cap Value ETF | 7,475 | 18,184 | 243.27% |
| DIVC | C-Tracks ETN - Miller/Howard Strategic Dividend Reinvestor | 29 | 143 | 483.90% |
| SMB | VanEck Vectors AMT-Free Short Municipal Index ETF | 66,694 | 140,828 | 211.15% |
| SLVP | iShares MSCI Global Silver Miners ETF | 50,522 | 117,628 | 232.82% |
| MXDU | Nationwide Maximum Diversification U.S. Core Equity ETF | 988 | 1,450 | 146.76% |
| FYT | First Trust Small Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund | 20,238 | 34,606 | 171.00% |
| CUT | PowerShares MSCI Global Timber Portfolio | 26,606 | 56,126 | 210.95% |
| FNDB | Schwab Fundamental US Broad Market Index ETF | 24,095 | 59,592 | 247.32% |
| JPMB | JPMorgan USD Emerging Markets Sovereign Bond ETF | 281 | 374 | 133.07% |
| STOT | SPDR DoubleLine Short Duration Total Return Tactical | 5,724 | 8,176 | 142.83% |
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.
