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ETF Inflows Running Well Ahead Of Last Year

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ETF Inflows Running Well Ahead Of Last Year
ETF Inflows Running Well Ahead Of Last Year

Financial markets recovered for a second-straight month in May, paving the way for investors to add money into ETFs. On net, $23.1 billion flowed into U.S.-listed ETFs during the month, pushing year-to-date inflows up to $143.7 billion. That's more than double the $68.1 billion of inflows seen at the end of May 2019. 

Fed Begins Purchases 

Interestingly, even though equities were among the biggers winners in terms of price performance during May, fixed income was the big winner in terms of ETF inflows. An impressive $27.7 billion entered U.S. fixed income ETFs in the month as the Federal Reserve began purchases of several large corporate bond funds. 

A few of the funds that the central bank purchased, including the iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), the iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), the Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF (VCSH) and the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), made the top inflows list for May. In total, the Fed has purchased nearly $3 billion of corporate bond ETFs so far.

Tech Funds In Favor 

Meanwhile, ETF investors were a bit more tepid when it came to equity funds, even as prices for stocks rallied sharply, hitting their best levels since early March. U.S. equity ETFs eked out net inflows of $391 million during the month, while international equity ETFs registered net outflows of $9.7 billion.

The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) and the Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) were favorites as investors focused their purchases on beneficiaries of the COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 environment, including tech megacaps, smaller software firms and video game makers. 

On the other hand, international equity ETFs like the iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (IEMG) and the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI) were shunned. Renewed tensions between the U.S. and China soured the sentiment on international, and particularly, emerging market, stocks.

'GLD' Quietly Ascending 

Even as stocks and bonds get all the headlines, the asset quietly making progress has been gold. Prices for the safe-haven metal remained near seven-year highs during May, while the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) gathered $3.7 billion of fresh assets. That brings year-to-date inflows for the fund up to $12.4 billion. 

For a full list of the top inflows and outflows for May and the year as a whole, see the tables below:

 

Top Gainers (May 2020)

Ticker

Name

Issuer

Net Flows ($,mm)

AUM ($M)

% of AUM

YTD 2020 Net Flows($,M)

HYG

iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF

Blackrock

4,383.99

24,535.71

17.87%

6,129.19

QQQ

Invesco QQQ Trust

Invesco

3,709.24

107,899.74

3.44%

11,936.43

GLD

SPDR Gold Trust

State Street Global Advisors

3,678.11

61,995.26

5.93%

12,354.72

LQD

iShares iBoxx USD Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF

Blackrock

2,535.07

49,221.54

5.15%

11,993.97

BND

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF

Vanguard

2,206.51

53,536.28

4.12%

2,957.78

VCSH

Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF

Vanguard

1,783.76

26,288.41

6.79%

387.06

JNK

SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF

State Street Global Advisors

1,730.12

11,965.41

14.46%

722.53

VGT

Vanguard Information Technology ETF

Vanguard

1,351.01

29,691.97

4.55%

2,788.65

JPST

JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF

JPMorgan Chase

1,330.76

11,339.50

11.74%

1,115.44

AGG

iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF

Blackrock

1,322.54

72,419.43

1.83%

337.06

 

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