ETF Cash Inflows Fall 85% in August

Net cash inflows for ETFs and ETNs fell to $2.0 billion in August, an 85% drop from the $13.2 billion seen in July, according to the National Stock Exchange (NSX). However, over the same period, notional trading volume for ETFs and ETNs doubled to $2.99 trillion, representing 37% of all U.S. equity trading volume.

Blackrock posted the biggest outflows of the month at $4.95 billion.

Still, 2011 has seen total net inflows of $73.2 billion for the year-to-date ending Aug. 31, 54% greater than the $47.6 billion for the same time last year. Net cash inflows for the first eight months of 2010 were also 12% below the same time period in 2009.

Long fixed income funds saw the most August inflows with $4.73 billion, up from $2.6 billion in July. Long-leveraged U.S. equity came in second with $3.10 billion. Long U.S. equity funds came in third with $1.11 billion, however, year-to-date, this category leads with $25.9 billion. The largest outflows were seen in long global equity funds. Commodity funds saw the second largest outflows in August with $1.45 billion.

NSX says at the end of August there were 1301 listed ETF/ETN products with $1.06 trillion in assets, a 31% increase over the same period last year, but down 4% from July’s total of $1.11 trillion.

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ETF Assets Surge 31% in March

Assets in U.S. listed ETFs and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) continue to hit record levels in March, surging 31% year-over-year to $1.08 trillion, according to the National Stock Market.

ETF/ETN net cash inflows for March totaled $11.2 billion. For the first quarter, cash inflows soared 240% to more than $28.9 billion, compared with $8.5 billion for the same period in 2010. March notional trading volume for ETFs and ETNs totaled approximately $1.8 trillion, representing nearly 31% of all U.S. equity trading volume. At the end of the month, there were 1,173 listed products compared with 971 at the same time last year

To view the full report go to: National Stock Exchange Market Data. NSX also publishes a product-by-product breakdown of the 1,173 products on which the data is based.

Net Cash Inflows Double; Large-Caps Lose, Emerging Markets Win

Net cash inflows into all exchange-traded funds (ETF) and exchange-traded notes (ETN) grew to approximately $17.1 billion in May, doubling April’s total, according to the National Stock Exchange (NSX). Despite the huge inflow overall, ETFs holding large-capitalization indexes such as the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Russell 1000 posted significant cash outflows. Meanwhile, emerging-market ETFs recorded huge net inflows.

iShares remained the top ETF firm with $290 billion in assets under management. State Street Global Advisors came in second with half that, $142 billion. Vanguard took third at $54 billion. PowerShares’ $31 billion came in fourth and ProShares $26 billion claimed fifth.

The SPDR Trust (SPY) remained the king with $63 billion in assets. SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) came in second with a distant $35 billion.

I noticed a trend of heavy net cash outflows from the large-cap U.S. equity funds. So, even as the market rose in May, the SPDR saw $146 million flow out in May. The PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 and is the sixth-largest ETF, had outflows of $435 million. Meanwhile, $639 million was pulled out of the Dow Diamonds (DIA), which tracks the Dow industrials. Surprisingly, the iShares S&P 500, (IVV) which also tracks the S&P 500 and is the fifth-largest ETF, saw net cash inflows of $441 million. However, all the iShares ETFs that track the Russell 1000 or an offshoot also saw outflows. Does this mean that traders think the U.S. stock market has peaked and have taken profits? I wouldn’t be surprised.

That money appears to be moving into emerging markets. The iShares MSCO-Emerging Markets (EEM) took honors as the third-largest ETF upon receipt of $1 billion in cash inflows in May. The only ETF with more net inflows was the iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ) with $1.5 billion.

Year-to-date net cash inflows totaled approximately $29.8 billion, led by fixed income, commodity, and short U.S. equity based ETF products, says the NSX. Assets in U.S. listed ETF/ETNs grew 10% sequentially to approximately $594.3 billion at the end of May. The number of listed products totaled 829, compared with 767 listed products a year ago. This data and more can be found in the NSX May 2009 Month-End ETF/ETN Data Report.

ETF/ETN Assets Grew 10%, Inflows 17% of Total

Assets in U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes (ETN) grew 10% in April over the previous month to $540.2 billion, according the National Stock Exchange in Jersey City, N.J. March assets totaled $489.2 billion.

Out of April’s $51 billion increase, 17%, or $8.5 billion was due to net cash inflows. The rest came from price apprecation . The NSX says year-to-date net cash inflows jumped 59% to $12.6 billion, over the same time period in 2008. In February, ETF/ETNs saw net cash outflows of $5.8 billion, but that turned positive in March with net cash inflows of $8.1 billion

At the end of April 2009, the number of listed products totaled 844, compared to 719 one year ago. Notional trading volume for ETF/ETN products totaled $1.6 trillion for April 2009, representing 33% of all U.S. equity trading volume. That fell from March, when notional trading volume was approximately $2 trillion, representing 38% of all U.S. equity trading volume.

Commodity ETVs Post $8 Billion in Inflows

Even as February saw net cash outflows of $5.8 billion from all ETFs/ETNs, commodity-based products posted a record $8.0 billion of net inflows, for a year-to-date total of $12.9 billion, according to the National Stock Exchange.

Assets in all U.S. listed ETFs and Exchange-Traded Notes (ETN) totaled approximately $460.6 billion at the end of February, a 19.5% drop from February 2008 when assets totaled $572.2 billion, says NSX. It was also a 13.3% decline from the $531.3 billion held at the end of 2008.

ETF/ETN notional trading volume totaled approximately $1.7 trillion for February, representing 38% of all U.S. equity trading volume. At the end of February, the number of listed products totaled 843 vs. 690 listed a year ago. This data is included in NSX’s February 2009 Month-End ETF/ETN Data Report.

ETFs See Cash Inflows Even as Asset Values Fall

ETFs and ETNs continue to see net cash inflows even as total assets under management fall. The conclusion is this is a function of just falling asset values.

According to the National Stock Exchange (NSX), at the end of November, total U.S. listed ETF and ETN assets fell 16.8% to $487.6 billion from $585.8 billion in November 2007. However, net cash inflows for the month were $26.4 billion, bringing the total net cash flow for the 11 months through Nov. 30 to $136.8 billion. In November, 315 ETFs saw net cash inflows, while 179 saw outflows. ETNs split at 16 each.

Notional trading volume in both ETFs and ETNs fell 33% in November from October to $2.2 trillion. Surprisingly, this represents a record 43% of all U.S. equity trading volume, up from 38% in October. That just shows how much total equity volume must have fallen off. At the end of November 2008, the number of listed products totaled 843, compared with 650 listed products one year ago and 806 in October.
According to the NSX, the only ETF firms that saw assets grow are State Street Global Advisers, ProShares, Van Eck and

Ameristock/Victoria Bay. All those firms saw net cash inflows for the year through Nov. 30 increase compared with the first 11 months of 2007. Vanguard did as well. ProShares’s assets under management rocketed 112% to $20.9 billion. SSGA’s assets grew 8.3% to $142.9 billion. This really shouldn’t be a surprise. ProShares sponsors the inverse and leveraged ETFs that have proved hugely popular in the market turmoil. SSGA sells the largest, most liquid ETF, the SPDR (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500. Many investors making a flight to safety or seeking a place to hold cash on a temporary basis will move to the S&P 500. Even as the S&P 500 sinks, the SPDR’s 2008 net cash inflows have surged 86% year-over-year through Nov. 30 to $18.23 billion.

Meanwhile, BGI’s iShares saw assets tumbled 29% to $229.3 billion.

Firms with net cash outflows in November included PowerShares, $309 million, and Merrill Lynch’s HOLDRs, which saw redemptions of $889 million. Surprisingly, the HOLDRs saw net cash outflows of $3.6 billion in 2007, but are up $1.2 billion so far this year. Other firms that experienced outflows in November were WisdomTree, FirstTrust, and SPA-ETF. Firms with net outflows year-to-date include Bank of New York, Rydex, X-Shares, Ziegler, FocusShares and BearStearns. The last two have gone out of business this year. Rydex is suffering as the strengthening dollar hurts its CurrencyShares.

As for ETNs, Barclay’s iPath family saw assets plunge 36% to $2.6 billion. In November, iPath saw outflows of $39 million. Morgan Stanley/Van Eck ETNs recorded outflows of $16 million in November. Meanwhile, Goldman Sach’s ETNs net cash outflows grew to $97 million year-to-date. Comparisons are not relevant for many of the other ETN firms as they had few funds, if any, last year.

Among the top ten ETFs and ETNs, the SPDR (SPY), iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA), SPDR Equity Gold (GLD), iShares S&P 500 Index Fund (IVV), iShares Russell 1000 Growth Index Fund (IWF) and iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) all saw net cash inflows in November, according the NSX. Of the 10 largest funds, these saw outflows last month: iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (EEM), PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond Fund (AGG) and the Dow Diamonds (DIA).

The NYSE Group also releases volume data for its exchanges. Average daily matched volume for ETFs, or the total number of shares of ETFs executed on the entire NYSE Group’s exchanges surged 93.5% to 672 million shares from 347 million shares in November 2007. Total matched volume for the month totaled 12,765 million shares, a 75.1% increase. Total volume year-to-date through Nov. 30 jumped 74.7% from the same period last year to 102,583 million shares.

Handled volume, which represents the total number of shares of equity securities and ETFs internally matched on the NYSE Group’s exchanges or routed to and executed at an external market center, totaled 14,813 million shares last month, a 77.6% surge over the year-ago month. Average daily handled volume rocketed 96.3% to 780 million shares from 397 million shares a year ago. Year-to-date total volume climbed 78.1% to 117,629 million shares.

The NYSE also reported total ETF consolidated volume for the month leapt 92.1% to 45,151 million shares, while total average daily volume soared 112.3% to 2,376 million shares. Year-to-date, total consolidated ETF volume surged 119.4% over the first 11 months of 2007 to 355,133 million shares. I think those refer just to the NYSE Group.

ETF/ETN Assets Drop 17.6% From Last October

U.S. listed exchange-traded fund and exchange-traded note (ETN) assets fell 17.6% year-over-year to $493 billion in October from $598 billion at the end of October 2007, according to the National Stock Exchange, or NSX. The NSX, the former Cincinnati Exchange moved to Jersey City, N.J. earlier this year. Net cash inflows were $6.8 billion, bringing the total net cash flow year-to-date through Oct. 31 to more than $109 billion.

The NSX said notional trading volume for ETFs/ETNs totaled a record $3.3 trillion during October, representing 38% of all U.S. equity trading volume. At the end of the month, the number of listed products totaled 806, up 28.5% from the 627 listed one year ago. The NSX monthly statistics include shares of open-end exchange-traded products, encompassing listed shares of investment companies, grantor trusts, ETNs and commodity pools. For the full report go to http://www.nsx.com/content/market-data