Strong Weekly ETF Inflows: Stocks Look Past COVID Spike
Investors added $17 billion to U.S.-listed ETFs this week.
Fresh record highs in the U.S. stock market corresponded with another strong week for ETF flows. On net, $17 billion headed into U.S.-listed ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Nov. 19, split evenly between U.S. equity, international equity and U.S. fixed income funds.
Year-to-date inflows now stand at $417.4 billion, compared to $249.4 billion at this same time last year. Inflows are on track to challenege the record annual haul of $476.1 billion set in 2017.
Stocks Looking Ahead
Despite surging COVID-19 cases across the country, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Monday thanks to positive efficacy data for one of the leading coronavirus vaccines. Since then, the index has retreated modestly, but investors continue to look past the recent virus-related struggles and toward a potentially brighter economic backdrop in 2021.
As stocks look ahead, fixed income markets seem to be more concerned with the here and now. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield dipped from a high of 0.98% last week to 0.82% today. In turn, prices for many bond ETFs rallied (bond prices and yields move inversely).
In terms of individual ETFs, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) and the iShares MBS ETF (MBB) were the biggest flows winners of the week.
On the other hand, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) were the biggest flows losers.
For a list of this week's top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,897.70 | 183,936.12 | 1.03% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 1,089.25 | 57,387.26 | 1.90% |
| MBB | iShares MBS ETF | 935.41 | 25,244.14 | 3.71% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 822.40 | 230,861.39 | 0.36% |
| VXUS | Vanguard Total International Stock ETF | 676.34 | 33,535.57 | 2.02% |
| XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | 674.92 | 15,390.44 | 4.39% |
| VTV | Vanguard Value ETF | 609.55 | 57,576.65 | 1.06% |
| IJR | iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | 576.40 | 49,509.72 | 1.16% |
| VCIT | Vanguard Intermediate-Term Corporate Bond ETF | 547.75 | 40,990.55 | 1.34% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 521.42 | 173,714.96 | 0.30% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -4,325.89 | 317,754.08 | -1.36% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | -1,325.97 | 73,407.85 | -1.81% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -963.63 | 48,576.64 | -1.98% |
| MTUM | iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF | -468.50 | 12,036.55 | -3.89% |
| RSP | Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF | -463.69 | 15,255.78 | -3.04% |
| XLV | Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund | -390.16 | 24,078.66 | -1.62% |
| SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | -379.90 | 20,437.67 | -1.86% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | -321.56 | 35,939.57 | -0.89% |
| IBB | iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology ETF | -298.74 | 9,255.14 | -3.23% |
| SPYG | SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 Growth ETF | -235.48 | 9,590.53 | -2.46% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 6,706.91 | 2,895,742.94 | 0.23% |
| International Equity | 5,115.59 | 960,131.12 | 0.53% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 5,864.16 | 951,535.09 | 0.62% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,229.74 | 117,420.48 | 1.05% |
| Commodities | -1,926.20 | 143,849.21 | -1.34% |
| Currency | -70.19 | 1,515.45 | -4.63% |
| Leveraged | -111.11 | 39,576.72 | -0.28% |
| Inverse | 116.27 | 12,106.22 | 0.96% |
| Asset Allocation | 94.80 | 12,507.92 | 0.76% |
| Alternatives | 28.86 | 5,140.51 | 0.56% |
| Total: | 17,048.82 | 5,139,525.67 | 0.33% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 134,876.57 | 2,895,742.94 | 4.66% |
| International Equity | 33,758.00 | 960,131.12 | 3.52% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 168,643.25 | 951,535.09 | 17.72% |
| International Fixed Income | 20,108.25 | 117,420.48 | 17.12% |
| Commodities | 42,848.52 | 143,849.21 | 29.79% |
| Currency | 490.04 | 1,515.45 | 32.34% |
| Leveraged | 930.98 | 39,576.72 | 2.35% |
| Inverse | 13,155.39 | 12,106.22 | 108.67% |
| Asset Allocation | 2,481.88 | 12,507.92 | 19.84% |
| Alternatives | 113.35 | 5,140.51 | 2.21% |
| Total: | 417,406.24 | 5,139,525.67 | 8.12% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| XES | SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services ETF | 10.75% | 458,566 | 99.86 |
| OIH | VanEck Vectors Oil Services ETF | 10.34% | 1,910,181 | 558.62 |
| IEZ | iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF | 9.79% | 550,166 | 58.55 |
| PXJ | Invesco Dynamic Oil & Gas Services ETF | 9.52% | 198,440 | 7.31 |
| NIB | iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN | 9.13% | 229,299 | 13.04 |
| JO | iPath Series B Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN | 8.93% | 584,142 | 79.52 |
| AMZA | InfraCap MLP ETF | 8.20% | 515,890 | 129.43 |
| GREK | Global X MSCI Greece ETF | 7.85% | 228,937 | 134.17 |
| PSCE | Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | 6.83% | 519,125 | 17.85 |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN | 6.80% | 4,813,998 | 1,605.42 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| TAN | Invesco Solar ETF | 142.56% | 1.45% | 2,203.59 |
| PBW | Invesco WilderHill Clean Energy ETF | 136.04% | 6.25% | 1,303.88 |
| QCLN | First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Green Energy Index Fund | 129.29% | 2.96% | 1,168.23 |
| ARKG | ARK Genomic Revolution ETF | 121.57% | 0.24% | 3,486.50 |
| ARKW | ARK Next Generation Internet ETF | 109.95% | 2.14% | 3,517.49 |
| KGRN | KraneShares MSCI China Environment Index ETF | 103.32% | -0.80% | 39.37 |
| ARKK | ARK Innovation ETF | 101.84% | 1.63% | 11,401.32 |
| XVZ | iPath S&P 500 Dynamic VIX ETN | 91.70% | 1.89% | 12.83 |
| PBD | Invesco Global Clean Energy ETF | 90.72% | 1.81% | 162.42 |
| ACES | ALPS Clean Energy ETF | 89.87% | 2.32% | 544.72 |
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.
