At this point last year, U.S.-based ETFs had net inflows of about $230.1 billion.
Fast-forward to this week: ETFs are now less than $2 billion away from reaching the half-trillion-dollar inflow mark just a few weeks into July and a hair past the halfway point of the year.
Flows in the week ending July 15 totaled just under $20.6 billion, roaring back after two weeks of inflows in the $4 billion range as traders readjusted their positions for the second half of 2021.
Equities Pull Out Of Two-Week Slide
U.S. equities roared back to life after two weeks of net outflows, posting gains of more than $13.7 billion after losing $770 million the week prior. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) led the gains, with just short of $4.5 billion in inflows, while the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) and the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) both pulled in $1.4 billion.
The First Trust Capital Strength ETF (FTCS) gained $1.8 billion on the week, for an increase of 18.21% in assets under management. The vast majority of that money was moved on a Thursday trade, so a similar amount of outflows in First Trust funds in the coming days is expected.
Corporate Junk, Small Caps Fall
Leading outflows in the week is the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), with a loss of $1.2 billion. The high yield fund was joined by the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), with an outflow of $791 million.
Both of those funds have slid since early July, and are currently posting returns of around 0.6% for the month versus year-to-date returns in the 2.5=2.75% range.
Small cap equity funds also appeared in the top redemptions column, led by $860 million in flows out from the iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR). The iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF (IJS) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) posted respective outflows of $409 million and $377 million.
The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) posted outflows of $613 million for the week. Two-thirds of those outflows came on Tuesday, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics posted inflation prints showing increases of 0.9% month-over-month and 5.4% year-over-year as the economy continues to emerge from the pandemic.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 4,497.55 | 384,669.52 | 1.17% |
| FTCS | First Trust Capital Strength ETF | 1,841.11 | 10,112.64 | 18.21% |
| VTI | Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF | 1,412.62 | 257,488.03 | 0.55% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 1,407.48 | 182,724.66 | 0.77% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 1,214.53 | 40,676.70 | 2.99% |
| VT | Vanguard Total World Stock ETF | 1,150.58 | 23,137.09 | 4.97% |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 1,047.09 | 239,727.87 | 0.44% |
| BNDX | Vanguard Total International Bond ETF | 886.27 | 44,147.52 | 2.01% |
| VTWO | Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF | 854.35 | 5,777.03 | 14.79% |
| VEA | Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF | 674.37 | 102,945.82 | 0.66% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -1,150.32 | 19,700.53 | -5.84% |
| IJR | iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | -859.64 | 67,948.69 | -1.27% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -790.62 | 8,875.42 | -8.91% |
| XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund | -613.04 | 19,919.25 | -3.08% |
| XLC | Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund | -511.68 | 14,107.28 | -3.63% |
| IJS | iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | -409.14 | 8,887.55 | -4.60% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | -398.66 | 16,062.82 | -2.48% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -376.95 | 65,555.18 | -0.58% |
| FAS | Direxion Daily Financial Bull 3x Shares | -350.51 | 3,248.79 | -10.79% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | -338.78 | 60,623.06 | -0.56% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 13,736.57 | 3,850,288.28 | 0.36% |
| International Equity | 3,073.77 | 1,281,880.22 | 0.24% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,355.10 | 1,049,794.54 | 0.22% |
| International Fixed Income | 1,530.65 | 145,779.20 | 1.05% |
| Commodities | -359.62 | 143,420.15 | -0.25% |
| Currency | 20.61 | 1,942.49 | 1.06% |
| Leveraged | 39.40 | 61,790.85 | 0.06% |
| Inverse | 104.39 | 11,864.64 | 0.88% |
| Asset Allocation | -10.95 | 16,506.13 | -0.07% |
| Alternatives | 63.04 | 6,437.53 | 0.98% |
| Total: | 20,552.95 | 6,569,704.02 | 0.31% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 234,331.82 | 3,850,288.28 | 6.09% |
| International Equity | 142,728.70 | 1,281,880.22 | 11.13% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 88,749.33 | 1,049,794.54 | 8.45% |
| International Fixed Income | 24,017.70 | 145,779.20 | 16.48% |
| Commodities | -1,163.09 | 143,420.15 | -0.81% |
| Currency | 57.66 | 1,942.49 | 2.97% |
| Leveraged | 772.34 | 61,790.85 | 1.25% |
| Inverse | 4,335.15 | 11,864.64 | 36.54% |
| Asset Allocation | 2,151.08 | 16,506.13 | 13.03% |
| Alternatives | 2,166.26 | 6,437.53 | 33.65% |
| Total: | 498,146.96 | 6,569,704.02 | 7.58% |
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| SOGU | The Short De-SPAC ETF | 8.38% | 18,290 | 17.25 |
| CORN | Teucrium Corn Fund | 7.11% | 1,266,215 | 145.78 |
| JJG | iPath Series B Bloomberg Grains Subindex Total Return ETN | 6.26% | 5,054 | 19.95 |
| GRU | ELEMENTS Linked to ICE BofAML Commodity index eXtra Grains - Total Return ETN | 6.11% | 27,212 | 5.87 |
| WEAT | Teucrium Wheat Fund | 5.75% | 1,739,304 | 82.80 |
| EWZS | iShares MSCI Brazil Small-Cap ETF | 5.65% | 107,854 | 127.28 |
| BRF | VanEck Vectors Brazil Small-Cap ETF | 5.22% | 56,489 | 51.20 |
| JJA | iPath Series B Bloomberg Agriculture Subindex Total Return ETN | 4.49% | 95,649 | 11.74 |
| FUE | ELEMENTS Linked to the ICE BofAML Commodity Index eXtra Biofuels - Total Return ETN | 4.40% | 10,337 | 1.37 |
| FLBR | Franklin FTSE Brazil ETF | 4.35% | 23,927 | 248.39 |
Top 10 YTD Performers
| Ticker | Name | YTD Performance | Weekly Performance | AUM ($, mm) |
| BDRY | Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF | 200.65% | -13.59% | 77.72 |
| ILCV | iShares Morningstar Value ETF | 133.51% | -0.28% | 726.77 |
| JJT | iPath Series B Bloomberg Tin Subindex Total Return ETN | 79.49% | 2.75% | 10.65 |
| MLPO | Credit Suisse S&P MLP Index ETN | 72.26% | 3.57% | 23.58 |
| FCG | First Trust Natural Gas ETF | 71.20% | -6.24% | 285.32 |
| PXE | Invesco Dynamic Energy Exploration & Production ETF | 68.03% | -6.09% | 87.11 |
| PSCE | Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | 65.75% | -6.91% | 187.84 |
| GRN | iPath Series B Carbon ETN | 61.99% | -3.22% | 59.08 |
| FRAK | VanEck Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF | 61.30% | -4.69% | 17.92 |
| PXI | Invesco DWA Energy Momentum ETF | 56.13% | -7.14% | 188.93 |
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.
