Credit: Shutterstock photoAnother week of strong inflows pushed year-to-date total inflows to a new record level of $312 billion as of the week ending Thursday, Sept. 7. According to the latest data from FactSet, inflows into U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds for the week totaled $8.9 billion.
Fixed Income On Top
U.S. fixed income saw the most inflows, pulling in $2.6 billion. During the one-week period, bonds surged, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield dropping as low as 2.01%, down from 2.17% the prior week (bond prices and yields move inversely).
The biggest ETF beneficiary of this week's inflows into fixed income was the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), which had creations of $919 million.
Other fixed-income products to see interest were the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) and the iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEI), with inflows of $448 million and $262 million, respectively.
Equity ETFs Also See Inflows
Slightly less money―$2.5 billion―headed for U.S. equity ETFs. The S&P 500 moved slightly lower week-over-week, as investors fretted about North Korea, Hurricane Irma and the political wrangling in Washington.
Other asset classes saw inflows, including international equity ETFs, with inflows of $1.7 billion; international fixed-income ETFs, with inflows of $414 million; and commodity ETFs, with inflows of $821 million.
Speaking of commodities, another notable fund on the top 10 list was the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD). It had inflows of $873 million—more than the net inflows for the entire commodity space—during the week, as gold prices reached their highest levels in a year above $1,360/oz.
Meanwhile, on the outflows side, notable losers included theiPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX), theiShares Currency Hedged MSCI EAFE ETF (HEFA) and the Deutsche X-trackers MSCI Japan Hedged Equity ETF (DBJP). Those three funds saw outflows that lowered their total AUM by 3% or more, with VXX seeing outflows that equated to nearly 13% of its total AUM.
September Set To Break Closure Records
September looks like it will be breaking the record of 41 closures that occurred in August 2016. August 2017 saw only five closures, but the tide has changed dramatically this month.
Just one week into September, 42 fund closures have either already happened or are scheduled to occur before October.
By the end of last week, there had been 16 closures completed for the month, with another 26 set to occur before the start of October. ETF issuers such as ProShares, Elkhorn, ETF Managers Group, Horizons, Janus Henderson and Direxion have all either closed funds or indicated they will be doing so this month.
The most recently announced shutdowns were four from VanEck’s Vectors family and include the following:
- VanEck Vectors AMT-Free 12-17 Year Municipal Index ETF (ITML)
- VanEck Vectors AMT-Free 6-8 Year Municipal Index ETF (ITMS)
- VanEck Vectors Solar Energy ETF (KWT)
- VanEck Vectors Treasury-Hedged High Yield Bond ETF (THHY)
The VanEck funds will see their last day of trading on Sept. 29.
While the vast majority of the funds set to close were due to low assets, the closure of the iShares iBonds Sep 2017 Term Muni Bond ETF (IBMF) on Sept. 1 was scheduled due to the bonds in its portfolio reaching maturity. The fund had more than $183 million at the end of July.
Heather Bell can be reached at hbell@etf.com.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
