Weekly Outflows For ETFs, ‘XLE’ Sees $1.1B Inflow

Weekly flows for U.S.-listed ETFs continued to reflect this year’s tepid amount of new assets, in sharp contrasts to 2018’s blistering start and finish.

For the week ending Thursday, March 7, ETF saw $2.5 billion in outflows, which takes year-to-date totals down to $18 billion. As of March 15, 2018, ETFs have seen nearly $100 billion in new assets and were headed to second-best year for ETF flows.

No particular asset class stood out in terms of inflows or outflows. U.S. equity inflows were down $1 billion, almost equal to the outflows in U.S. fixed income. International equity ETFs led the asset-class pack, with $244 million in new assets.

Energy ETF ‘XLE’ Gets A Boost

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) topped the creations list, with $1.16 billion, a nearly 8% increase in total assets under management, as it continues to outperform, rising 14.23% so far this year.

Compare that with the return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), which had a return of 11% in the same time period, and also led outflows this week, with $2 billion flowing out. However, that amount is less than 1% of the total AUM for SPY, which has $257 billion in assets under management (AUM). XLE now has $14.6 billion in AUM.

Another ETF that saw strong weekly inflows was the Xtrackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF (ASHR), which registered nearly $300 million in inflows, a 14.5% jump in total AUM.

Mixed Bag Of Outflows

Equity ETFs, long-term, short-term and junk bond funds and even gold—the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which saw almost $750 million in outflows—peppered the top 10 list, with no real trend other than investors seem to be moving around on the fixed-income space.

Percentagewise, the Vanguard Short-Term Treasury Index ETF (VGSH) saw the biggest outflows, with 14.5% of its assets leaving the $4.8 billion fund. On the other side of the bond curve, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), had the second-most redemptions by percent, 8.3%, for that $10 billion fund.

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 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

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.