Weekly ETF Flows See $8.5B Gain

Investments into U.S.-listed ETFs hit a net $8.5 billion during the week ended Aug. 26, according to ETF.com data provider FactSet, a slowdown from the $17.9 billion the previous week.

A slowdown in U.S. equities from $12.1 billion last week to just $2.5 billion in the past five trading days was the primary driver of the week-to-week decline. However, a 57% increase in U.S. fixed income inflows to $4.6 billion was a partial offset.

U.S.-listed ETFs have now gained  $569.6 billion year-to-date, while $6.7 trillion in assets are under management within the industry.

China Funds Resurge

Beijing’s moves to rein in large industries across China during the past few months have cast a shadow over ETFs that track U.S.-listed Chinese firms.

But earnings beats for two prominent China e-commerce firms calmed investors’ fears of political risk, and made the Invesco Golden Dragon China ETF (PGJ) and KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) the top-performing ETFs of the week, with returns of 13.72% and 12.74%, respectively.

KWEB also had the largest percentage gain in assets out of all ETFs in the week, jumping 11.57% after several tumultuous weeks of sell-offs and holdouts believing the fund is due for a rebound.

Oil Production, Banking ETFs Get Corrections

The SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP) and Invesco KBW Bank ETF (KBWB) had the deepest sell-offs of the week, with AUM losses of 18.19% and 9.49%, respectively.

It’s not exactly clear why XOP suffered such a violent drop, as forward-month oil gained 8.5% from Monday to 2:30 p.m. ET Friday on news that China reported no locally  transmitted cases of COVID-19 for the first time in months on Monday.

Oil producer stocks are also gaining Friday after Tropical Storm Ida was forecast to grow into a Category 3 storm as it travels through the Gulf of Mexico and the shores of Louisiana sometime late Sunday. Crews are being evacuated from offshore rigs in anticipation of the storm, which may have significant effects on oil supply.

KBWB’s drop in assets appears to have been caused by investors cycling out of defensive moves into financials two weeks ago. The fund gained 17.34% in that period to lead gains among several banking ETFs.

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.