US ETF growth led by big four providers – iShares, SPDR, Vanguard and PowerShares

Jul 11th, 2012 | By | Category: ETF and Index News

US ETF net assets under management grow by 4% in June, ending the month with roughly $1.18 trillion, with the largest four providers (iShares, SSgA SPDR, Vanguard and PowerShares) collecting the lion’s share of new assets, according to analysis from investment data provider Morningstar. SSgA alone raked in nearly $9 billion.

US ETF growth led by big four providers - iShares, SPDR, Vanguard and PowerShares

 The largest four providers, namely iShares, SSgA SPDR, Vanguard and PowerShares, collected the lion’s share of new ETF assets in June.

After two months of slight outflows, investors poured into broad US-stock exposure. The asset class realized a $9.4 billion inflow in June. Leading the charge for US-stock ETFs were the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and the PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ), which gathered $6.4 and $1.8 billion, respectively.

Sector stock ETFs were also strongly in favour and brought in just over $4 billion. ETFs tracking Energy and REITs saw the most interest as the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) and Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ) picked up roughly $900 million and $600 million, respectively.

Within the sector stock asset class, the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (AMJ) may have had its last hurrah. It saw a $574 million inflow, but the bank has halted new share creations given the difficulty in hedging out MLP exposure. Any new investor interest in the fund may increase the already high premium of nearly 3%.

Bring on the credit risk—sort of. Last month, taxable-bond offerings collected $4.8 billion. At the head of that pack was the iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD), gathered $1.2 billion. At the same time, investors finally grew tired of record-low government bond rates. Treasury products saw the most substantial outflows of the month with iShares Barclays 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY) and iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) bleeding $600 million and $200 million, respectively.

Although flows to the international-stock asset class were net positive, sentiment across the space was mixed. Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) brought in $1.2 billion. On the other end, iShares FTSE China 25 Index ETF (FXI) gave up nearly $600 million.

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