BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF reaches $200bn AUM milestone

Dec 17th, 2019 | By | Category: ETF and Index News

BlackRock‘s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV US) has surpassed $200 billion in assets under management.

BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF powers through $200bn milestone

IVV has benefitted from healthy market performance and several bumper months of net inflows.

The milestone was reached on 16 December 2019 on the back of healthy market performance and several bumper months of net inflows.

Bullish US equity market sentiment was instrumental in the fund’s achievement, with the underlying S&P 500 Index rallying 29.8% year-to-date (as of 16 December) and setting several new all-time highs.

By contrast, international developed equities as represented by the MSCI EAFE Index posted a return of 21.6% over the same period.

The fund has also recorded nine months of positive net inflows during 2019 (including December month-to-date), raking in approximately $9.7bn in new money.

The milestone can also in part be attributed to the general trend towards passive investing and the revolutionary growth of the ETF industry, as lower costs and greater transparency continue to fuel investor interest in ETFs as portfolio construction tools.

Low-cost access

The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF is physically backed and comes with an expense ratio of just 0.04%, making it one of the lowest-cost means of accessing the bellwether S&P 500.

It is less than half the price of the $300bn SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY US) – the largest ETF globally – which costs 0.0945%.

Investors can, however, secure even cheaper access to the S&P 500 through the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO US) which costs just 0.03% following Vanguard’s lowering of the expense ratio in April.

Similar to SPY and VOO, IVV’s robust liquidity and low bid-ask spreads are highly valued characteristics, particularly by institutional investors who wish to conduct larger trades while keeping costs low.

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