Bond ETFs Fuel $6B Of Weekly ETF Outflows

Another week of volatility led to outflows from U.S.-listed ETFs. According to FactSet, $6.1 billion exited ETFs during the week ending Thursday, Feb. 15, on top of the $18.9 billion of outflows last week.

This time, the market volatility was to the upside. The S&P 500 was up as much as 5% from last Friday to this Friday, but that didn’t stop investors from pulling $6.7 billion from U.S. equity ETFs.

U.S. fixed-income ETFs registered outflows of $3.1 billion, as bonds sold off and yields rose. The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond yield reached a four-year high of 2.93% during the middle of the week after the government released reports showing inflation rising faster than expected.

Even after two weeks of hefty outflows, ETFs are still holding on to respectable year-to-date inflows of $46 billion, as long-term investors remain unfazed by the recent bout of volatility in financial markets.

SPY & Bond ETFs Lose Favor

Just like last week, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) was the biggest victim of the outflows from ETFs. Investors pulled $4.8 billion out of the fund this week. Currently, the fund has year-to-date outflows of $7.8 billion, a sharp change of fortune for the fund that had year-to-date inflows of $13.6 billion as recently as the end of January.

Other notable ETFs to find themselves on the top outflows list for the week include the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) and the iShares JP Morgan USD Emerging Markets Bond ETF (EMB).

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger, a pair of Vanguard ETFs topped the inflows list: the Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG) and the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), each with creations of more than $850 million.

The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-bill ETF (BIL) and the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV) also saw interest as investors searched for safe assets with minimal interest rate risk.

The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX) also pulled in a notable $610 million during the week.

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

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

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.