ETFs Gain $8B On Volatile Week

U.S.-listed ETFs gained just over $8.1 billion in new assets last week despite a confluence of inflation, geopolitical tensions and a Fed that isn’t ruling out a half-point rate hike this year.

The U.S. ETF industry has seen $38.6 billion in inflows year-to-date, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet, and now manages more than $6.7 trillion in assets.

Major Market ETFs Diverge

U.S. equities took in a net $1.6 billion in new assets on the week despite a split in flows between some of the ETFs that turned 2021 into a record-breaking year for inflows.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) led all ETFs, with $3.9 billion in new assets, while the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) gained $2.7 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI) added $1.3 billion in the week.

Those funds may have benefited from dip-buyers looking to add to the core of their portfolios, while the broad-market funds prized for their intraday liquidity struggled.

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) lost $7.8 billion on the week, followed by the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), which had an outflow of just under $3.6 billion.

Day traders took contrarian positions on the prospects for the tech industry, adding just over $1 billion into the triple-leveraged ProShares UltraPro QQQ (TQQQ) for a higher-risk, higher-return bet on some of the largest companies in the world. QQQ finished higher on Monday and Friday last week.

The IShares MSCI Kokusai ETF (TOK) was second among all ETFs in new assets, with more than $3.7 billion on the week. However, all of that came on Wednesday alone, after weeks of little to no flow activity. The massive single-day amount suggests that it is the first leg of a heartbeat trade designed to avoid capital gains taxes.

US Bonds Retreat While TIPS Split

U.S. fixed income ETFs had the largest outflows among the asset classes last week, with nearly $3 billion pulled from the sector.

The SPDR Portfolio Long Term Treasury ETF (SPTL) led fixed income ETFs on the week, taking in $902.5 million as traders loaded onto the flattening long end of the Treasury curve.

The only other bond ETF on the top 10 gainers list was the Schwab U.S. TIPS ETF (SCHP) with $882 million, although a $515.8 million outflow from the iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP) muddied the narrative of investors clamoring for inflation-protected bonds.

High yield bond ETFs also struggled, as a potential double-whammy of inflation and the Federal Reserve’s hawkish turn toward cutting down its balance sheet sent investors fleeing. The iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) lost $761 million in assets, while the SPDR Bloomberg High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) decreased by $701 million.

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

Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 10 YTD Performers

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.