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WisdomTree Inc. (WT), a top-20 ETF issuer, said first-quarter assets under management rose 5.5% from the prior period as the company's commodity funds soared in value and investors pumped money into bond products.
The New York-based company’s global assets rose $6 billion to $115.8 billion on an even mix of inflows and market gains, mostly in Europe. That total matched the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. From last year’s fourth quarter, assets jumped 8%, the company said in a statement.
USFR Cleans Up as Fixed Income, Commodities Gain
In the U.S., WisdomTree’s largest market, total AUM widened by 2% to $80.5 billion, mostly due to inflows, as falling equity markets cut valuations. Inflows largely went to the $18.6 billion WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury Fund (USFR), the biggest among the company’s 78 U.S. exchange-traded funds, which pulled in $2 billion in net inflows, according to FactSet data.
Results were buoyed by company's commodities funds, which, despite outflows, surged by $3.7 billion in market gains alone. Fixed income gained $2.1 billion in appreciation.
ETF Assets Surge at Major Issuers
Big ETF issuers from BlackRock Inc. (BLK) to JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) mostly reported solid first quarters despite upheavals caused by President Donald Trump’s trade war that battered markets and raised recession fears. Investors shifted money into fixed income from stocks or doubled down on equity ETFs as values dropped, betting on a market rebound.
BlackRock, Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) and JPMorgan all reported large surges in ETF assets. Invesco Ltd. (IVZ) reported a modest gain in assets, while No. 3 issuer State Street Corp. (STT) said net flows into its exchange-traded funds dropped sharply from the previous quarter, largely a result of investors pulling billions from its flagship SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).
The company added a “digital assets” category to its earnings statement, covering so-called tokenized products. Assets in the 17-product category jumped by $101 million to end the quarter at $132 million.
WisdomTree Top 5 ETFs—Source: FactSet data
Global ETF Gains
Globally, WisdomTree added 20 ETFs over the year and how has 375 exchange-traded fund products. Its European unit pulled in $1.1 billion, far less than $1.8 billion the U.S. business grabbed. Still, the value of European ETFs surged $3.3 billion in market gains alone.
WisdomTree specializes in dividend ETFs, with six of its top 10 funds falling into that category.