Weekly ETF Inflows Tepid
Investors took a wait-and-see approach to the markets this week.
After several weeks of intense positioning, investors took a breather this week. On net, they left their ETF holdings little changed—only adding $972 million in new money to the space during the week ending Thursday, April 26. That pushed year-to-date inflows slightly higher to $81.5 billion.
As has largely been the case all year long, ETF flows followed the market. Despite seeing big moves up and down during the week, the S&P 500 finished the week close to unchanged—mirroring flows.
With the Q2 earnings season in full swing, corporations have been hitting it out of the park. According to Bloomberg, 82% of companies that have reported so far have beaten estimates, the largest percentage on record. However, nagging concerns about trade, slowing growth overseas, and interest rates offset the rosy-profits picture.
Meanwhile, as the stock market stalled, the bond market saw action. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield hit a four-year high of 3.04% on Wednesday before backing down to last trade at 2.96% on Friday.
‘SPTM’ Assets Increase By A Quarter
Taking a look at individual ETFs, the iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV), the iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF (IEFA) and the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) were the week’s biggest inflows winners.
On a percentage basis, the SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market ETF (SPTM) had the largest jump, with an AUM increase of 24%.
On the other side of the ledger, the PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ), the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) were the ETFs with the largest outflows during the week.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 1,852.17 | 142,094.43 | 1.32% |
| IEFA | iShares Core MSCI EAFE ETF | 1,310.63 | 58,408.59 | 2.30% |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF | 828.26 | 7,634.10 | 12.17% |
| AGG | iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF | 604.66 | 55,542.03 | 1.10% |
| LQD | iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF | 575.13 | 32,227.73 | 1.82% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 485.28 | 13,843.97 | 3.63% |
| XLF | Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund | 429.43 | 32,669.89 | 1.33% |
| XLP | Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund | 423.39 | 7,575.89 | 5.92% |
| IEF | iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 374.37 | 8,775.90 | 4.46% |
| SPTM | SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market ETF | 357.49 | 1,844.32 | 24.04% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| QQQ | PowerShares QQQ Trust | -1,961.92 | 58,549.60 | -3.24% |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | -1,824.61 | 251,411.35 | -0.72% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | -1,056.97 | 42,482.35 | -2.43% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -682.39 | 14,447.77 | -4.51% |
| XLK | Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund | -616.21 | 19,431.68 | -3.07% |
| XLI | Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund | -601.28 | 12,748.07 | -4.50% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -556.87 | 9,021.86 | -5.81% |
| XLY | Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund | -469.82 | 12,693.87 | -3.57% |
| DIA | SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust | -391.58 | 20,902.64 | -1.84% |
| VNQ | Vanguard Real Estate ETF | -327.88 | 28,688.71 | -1.13% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -3,223.92 | 1,898,203.60 | -0.17% |
| International Equity | 1,839.22 | 840,681.97 | 0.22% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 2,612.60 | 533,043.96 | 0.49% |
| International Fixed Income | -168.52 | 63,723.93 | -0.26% |
| Commodities | 439.37 | 71,016.63 | 0.62% |
| Currency | 0.00 | 157.49 | 0.00% |
| Leveraged | -23.45 | 34,720.97 | -0.07% |
| Inverse | -209.60 | 13,764.85 | -1.52% |
| Asset Allocation | 17.03 | 9,120.79 | 0.19% |
| Alternatives | -310.25 | 4,218.97 | -7.35% |
| Total: | 972.49 | 3,468,653.17 | 0.03% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| IGN | iShares North American Tech-Multimedia Networking ETF | 16,511 | 66,417 | 402.26% |
| TBX | ProShares Short 7-10 Year Treasury | 61,884 | 170,558 | 275.61% |
| MEAR | iShares Short Maturity Municipal Bond ETF | 13,528 | 42,743 | 315.97% |
| HDMV | First Trust Horizon Managed Volatility Developed International ETF | 14,781 | 37,258 | 252.07% |
| EIRL | iShares MSCI Ireland ETF | 11,397 | 27,988 | 245.58% |
| IAI | iShares U.S. Broker-Dealers & Securities Exchanges ETF | 90,416 | 215,281 | 238.10% |
| TLTE | FlexShares Morningstar Emerging Markets Factor Tilt Index | 27,761 | 59,622 | 214.77% |
| WOOD | iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF | 59,135 | 124,287 | 210.17% |
| JPSE | JPMorgan Diversified Return U.S. Small Cap Equity ETF | 19,733 | 34,643 | 175.56% |
| DOO | WisdomTree International Dividend ex-Financials Fund | 9,815 | 15,654 | 159.49% |
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.
