Investors poured a net of $16.6 billion into U.S.-listed ETFs in the month of April, keeping the ETF industry’s asset gathering at a much slower pace than year-ago levels.
Year-to-date, U.S.-listed ETFs have attracted some $41 billion in net creations. That compares with inflows of about $72 billion in the same four-month period in 2015.
Safer Assets
Investors poured a net of $16.6 billion into U.S.-listed ETFs in the month of April, keeping the ETF industry’s asset gathering at a much slower pace than year-ago levels.
Year-to-date, U.S.-listed ETFs have attracted some $41 billion in net creations. That compares with inflows of about $72 billion in the same four-month period in 2015.
Safer Assets
A look at the top asset gainers last month shows that there was strong demand for safer-type assets, even in the equity space. The iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF (USMV | A-69) was one of the month’s most in-demand strategies in April, raking in $1.26 billion.
So far this year, the fund has gathered some $4.7 billion in inflows as it continues to outperform the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY | A-97). USMV has delivered gains of 6.1% since the beginning of the year, or about 3.5 percentage points more than SPY.
U.S. equity funds were, again, a popular choice last month, attracting some $10.6 billion in net creations, but the largest creations were seen in traditional broad large-cap strategies, and the Vanguard REIT Index Fund (VNQ | A-91).
“Investors were more risk averse in April, favoring investment-grade bonds ETFs and lower-volatility strategies,” S&P Capital IQ’s Todd Rosenbluth said.
When it comes to safe assets, what was not among the month’s top gainers was the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD | A -100)—a fund that remains 2016’s leading asset gatherer, with inflows exceeding $6.15 billion year-to-date. Still, in April, GLD was actually among the biggest losers, with net redemptions of $645 million.
HEDJ has now bled nearly $3.1 billion in net outflows year-to-date, helping bump WisdomTree down to the sixth spot among top issuers. Charles Schwab now ranks at No. 5.
