Weekly Flows Positive Despite Market Turmoil
U.S.-listed ETFs on track for second-largest annual inflows ever.
With only two trading sessions unaccounted for, ETFs are on track to collect their second-largest annual inflow ever in 2018. Following this week’s $2.5 worth of inflows, the year-to-date inflows total for U.S.-listed ETFs rose to $309 billion, second only to 2017’s $476.1 billion haul.
In impressive fashion, ETFs had strong inflows throughout December, even as the U.S. stock market tumbled relentlessly. The S&P 500 briefly fell 20% below its all-time highs, spooked by global growth concerns spurred on by the U.S.-China trade war, Brexit and Fed rate hikes.
During this week specifically—the final full trading week of the year—investors pulled a modest $3.8 billion from U.S. equity ETFs. But inflows for international equity and U.S. fixed-income ETFs more than made up for that.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), with $8.4 billion worth of inflows, and the iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV), with $2.1 billion worth of inflows, were two of the biggest winners during the week.
On the other hand, the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) shed assets.
For a full list of this week’s top inflows and outflows, see the tables below:
Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| SPY | SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust | 8,375.76 | 243,625.80 | 3.44% |
| QQQ | Invesco QQQ Trust | 2,375.54 | 61,292.54 | 3.88% |
| SHV | iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF | 2,072.28 | 20,164.49 | 10.28% |
| IVV | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF | 1,121.02 | 146,254.64 | 0.77% |
| IWM | iShares Russell 2000 ETF | 1,039.47 | 41,027.84 | 2.53% |
| SHY | iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF | 808.51 | 20,475.83 | 3.95% |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Trust | 750.90 | 31,931.67 | 2.35% |
| IWB | iShares Russell 1000 ETF | 657.11 | 17,016.94 | 3.86% |
| ACWI | iShares MSCI ACWI ETF | 489.57 | 10,096.11 | 4.85% |
| BIL | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF | 470.72 | 8,294.80 | 5.67% |
Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| VOO | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | -3,415.34 | 88,692.10 | -3.85% |
| IVW | iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF | -2,372.95 | 19,512.75 | -12.16% |
| IVE | iShares S&P 500 Value ETF | -1,656.78 | 14,290.49 | -11.59% |
| IJS | iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF | -867.06 | 5,277.38 | -16.43% |
| RPG | Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF | -749.00 | 1,982.91 | -37.77% |
| VTV | Vanguard Value ETF | -741.31 | 40,378.15 | -1.84% |
| JNK | SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF | -701.71 | 6,714.91 | -10.45% |
| IJJ | iShares S&P Mid-Cap 400 Value ETF | -642.39 | 5,413.90 | -11.87% |
| MDY | SPDR S&P Midcap 400 ETF Trust | -570.00 | 16,141.24 | -3.53% |
| HYG | iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF | -566.32 | 12,129.69 | -4.67% |
ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | -3,826.23 | 1,857,060.45 | -0.21% |
| International Equity | 2,838.25 | 723,009.43 | 0.39% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 3,228.07 | 585,550.12 | 0.55% |
| International Fixed Income | -631.12 | 64,893.83 | -0.97% |
| Commodities | 921.99 | 61,757.05 | 1.49% |
| Currency | 54.67 | 1,802.84 | 3.03% |
| Leveraged | 152.18 | 28,342.93 | 0.54% |
| Inverse | -610.02 | 12,510.94 | -4.88% |
| Asset Allocation | 143.99 | 9,201.98 | 1.56% |
| Alternatives | 192.27 | 5,245.73 | 3.67% |
| Total: | 2,464.06 | 3,349,375.31 | 0.07% |
Asset Classes (Year-to-Date)
| Net Flows ($, mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| U.S. Equity | 132,933.28 | 1,857,060.45 | 7.16% |
| International Equity | 69,099.59 | 723,009.43 | 9.56% |
| U.S. Fixed Income | 85,396.97 | 585,550.12 | 14.58% |
| International Fixed Income | 10,241.44 | 64,893.83 | 15.78% |
| Commodities | 647.94 | 61,757.05 | 1.05% |
| Currency | -56.99 | 1,802.84 | -3.16% |
| Leveraged | 7,726.56 | 28,342.93 | 27.26% |
| Inverse | 1,105.56 | 12,510.94 | 8.84% |
| Asset Allocation | 1,395.71 | 9,201.98 | 15.17% |
| Alternatives | 503.15 | 5,245.73 | 9.59% |
| Total: | 308,993.20 | 3,349,375.31 | 9.23% |
Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | 1 Week Average Volume | % of Average |
| QLTA | iShares Aaa-A Rated Corporate Bond ETF | 50,316 | 342,427 | 680.56% |
| FRAK | VanEck Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF | 119,183 | 777,869 | 652.67% |
| EZJ | ProShares Ultra MSCI Japan | 2,829 | 14,689 | 519.18% |
| GNMA | iShares GNMA Bond ETF | 26,095 | 115,435 | 442.36% |
| USRT | iShares Core U.S. REIT ETF | 333,725 | 1,450,641 | 434.68% |
| ONEV | SPDR Russell 1000 Low Volatility Focus | 7,780 | 31,296 | 402.26% |
| ACSI | American Customer Satisfaction ETF | 5,210 | 18,891 | 362.56% |
| JPMF | JPMorgan Managed Futures Strategy ETF | 2,897 | 10,379 | 358.30% |
| BEMO | Aptus Behavioral Momentum ETF | 13,765 | 48,735 | 354.04% |
| DBJP | Xtrackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity ETF | 522,368 | 1,698,696 | 325.19% |
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.
