US Bond Funds Continue to Haul in Cash
Meanwhile, U.S. equity ETFs pulled in $662 million last week.
U.S. fixed income exchange-traded funds remained a favorite as investors braced themselves for the onslaught of economic data in the weeks ahead that will indicate the Federal Reserve’s path forward.
U.S. bond ETFs hauled in $9.7 billion in the truncated trading week ending April 6, according to etf.com data. That’s 33.8% greater than the $7.3 million the asset class pulled in the week prior.
Funds with the greatest inflows included the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), which collectively pulled in more than $2.1 billion last week. Year to date, both funds have shed billions despite their yields ticking up.
On the other side of the ledger, U.S. equity funds picked up $623 million, rebounding from the nearly $1.2 billion of losses stock ETFs posted the week prior. Top-performing funds included the Xtrackers MSCI USA Climate Action Equity ETF (USCA) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which together collected $3.7 billion in the last week, etf.com data shows.
The $11.2 billion in weekly inflows come as investors have kept a keen eye on the path of the Fed in the months ahead. On Friday, data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that U.S. employers added 236,000 jobs in March. That’s below economist expectations and may indicate that the labor market, which is a key factor in the Fed’s decisions, is finally responding to the central bank’s campaign to ease inflation.
This upcoming Wednesday, the all-important consumer price index will be reported. MarketWatch-polled analysts are predicting that March inflation will come in at a 5.5% annual rate, easing from February’s reported 6%. Still, that’s a long way from the 2% the Fed has tried to get back to with nine straight interest rate hikes.
Investors have responded to the murky expectations by flocking to fixed income ETFs for safety. U.S. bond funds lured in nearly $54 billion so far this year, according to etf.com data. Most of that went into Treasury bill ETFs, the data shows.
For a full list of last week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| USCA | Xtrackers MSCI USA Climate Action Equity ETF | 2,039.15 | 2,035.40 | 100.18% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 1,622.96 | 171,414.01 | 0.95% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | 1,346.43 | 13,795.60 | 9.76% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 778.71 | 36,332.74 | 2.14% |
| XLE | Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund | 741.67 | 40,366.66 | 1.84% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 695.13 | 284,909.60 | 0.24% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | 580.10 | 43,398.56 | 1.34% |
| TIP | iShares TIPS Bond ETF | 485.72 | 23,288.01 | 2.09% |
| EWJ | iShares MSCI Japan ETF | 448.99 | 9,933.00 | 4.52% |
| BND | Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF | 407.71 | 91,898.06 | 0.44% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN | -2,407.68 | 267.09 | -901.46% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | -2,106.57 | 304,250.98 | -0.69% |
| USSG | Xtrackers MSCI USA ESG Leaders Equity ETF | -2,035.47 | 1,212.26 | -167.91% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,698.55 | 369,632.22 | -0.46% |
| SCHP | Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF | -1,306.81 | 12,534.81 | -10.43% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -687.27 | 29,335.20 | -2.34% |
| BIL | SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | -585.83 | 29,434.57 | -1.99% |
| EBND | SPDR Bloomberg Emerging Markets Local Bond ETF | -530.17 | 1,695.81 | -31.26% |
| SPXL | Direxion Daily S&P 500 Bull 3X Shares | -519.84 | 2,446.97 | -21.24% |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | -441.69 | 7,321.29 | -6.03% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 622.77 | 4,015,618.22 | 0.02% |
| International Equity | -1,276.97 | 1,246,119.20 | -0.10% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 9,733.51 | 1,240,357.04 | 0.78% |
| International Fixed Income | 576.23 | 147,154.70 | 0.39% |
| Commodities | 222.88 | 140,921.66 | 0.16% |
| Currency | -4.13 | 3,558.88 | -0.12% |
| Leveraged | -534.09 | 55,930.39 | -0.95% |
| Inverse | 1,808.30 | 23,125.01 | 7.82% |
| Asset Allocation | 8.42 | 16,066.50 | 0.05% |
| Alternatives | 86.09 | 7,318.62 | 1.18% |
| Total: | 11,243.02 | 6,896,170.20 | 0.16% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -2,274.99 | 4,015,618.22 | -0.06% |
| International Equity | 27,540.40 | 1,246,119.20 | 2.21% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 53,496.41 | 1,240,357.04 | 4.31% |
| International Fixed Income | 5,971.97 | 147,154.70 | 4.06% |
| Commodities | -72.42 | 140,921.66 | -0.05% |
| Currency | -521.38 | 3,558.88 | -14.65% |
| Leveraged | 1,420.97 | 55,930.39 | 2.54% |
| Inverse | 4,667.36 | 23,125.01 | 20.18% |
| Asset Allocation | -2,036.86 | 16,066.50 | -12.68% |
| Alternatives | -74.97 | 7,318.62 | -1.02% |
| Total: | 88,116.49 | 6,896,170.20 | 1.28% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GDMN | WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Gold Miners Strategy Fund | 7.50% | 23,375 | 8.67 |
| BNO | United States Brent Oil Fund LP | 6.40% | 2,394,936 | 226.74 |
| GDX | VanEck Gold Miners ETF | 6.15% | 108,224,935 | 14,676.13 |
| RING | iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF | 6.12% | 608,293 | 466.66 |
| JO | iPath Series B Bloomberg Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN | 6.03% | 81,758 | 47.32 |
| GOAU | U.S. Global GO Gold and Precious Metal Miners ETF | 5.95% | 167,940 | 100.65 |
| GRN | iPath Series B Carbon ETN | 5.87% | 28,188 | 54.31 |
| SGDM | Sprott Gold Miners ETF | 5.81% | 267,467 | 290.24 |
| USO | United States Oil Fund LP | 5.72% | 15,784,022 | 1,642.42 |
| KEUA | KraneShares European Carbon Allowance Strategy ETF | 5.59% | 136,504 | 33.14 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| BITO | ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF | 64.13% | -3.88% | 944.54 |
| VERS | Proshares Metaverse ETF | 20.45% | -3.27% | 5.65 |
| TINY | ProShares Nanotechnology ETF | 20.37% | -2.98% | 2.52 |
| NVMZ | TrueShares Structured Outcome ETF - November | 14.66% | 2.52 | |
| MAKX | ProShares S&P Kensho Smart Factories ETF | 13.74% | -6.66% | 0.84 |
| TINT | ProShares Smart Materials ETF | 13.63% | -2.80% | 1.61 |
| OND | ProShares On-Demand ETF | 12.51% | -2.20% | 0.54 |
| DAT | ProShares Big Data Refiners ETF | 12.04% | -3.65% | 2.36 |
| EUDV | ProShares MSCI Europe Dividend Growers ETF | 11.33% | -0.09% | 8.73 |
| ONLN | ProShares Online Retail ETF | 11.18% | -3.98% | 101.23 |
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.
