Record ETF Inflows for 2012

NEW YORK (TheStreet Ratings) -- Each month, the ETF Industry Association) analyzes the assets under management and the net cash flow data for a growing list of U.S. exchange-traded funds. The net cash inflow of $42.7 billion in the first two months of 2012 is a record for the first two months of any calendar year.

As more long-term investors and speculative traders learn about ETFs the assets managed within these funds continues to grow. At $1.2 trillion as of Feb. 29th, the assets under management in exchange-traded products, including both exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, has grown by 14% over Feb. 2011. All of the asset and flow data included in this article was released on Monday, Mar. 5th by the ETF Industry Association.

In Feb. 2012 alone exchange-traded net inflows topped $13.9 billion. The strongest groups included $1.8 billion into U.S. equity ETNs, $5.6 billion into global and international equity ETFs, $1.2 billion into real estate ETFs, $4.2 billion into fixed income ETFs, and $3.2 billion into Commodity ETFs. During the month $1.5 billion flowed out of U.S. equity ETFs as well as $549 million outflow from currency ETFs.

Some of the largest Feb. 2012 inflows included $2.4 billion to Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO), $1.4 billion to iShares MSCI-Emerging Markets (EEM), $1.3 billion to SPDR Gold (GLD), and $1.1 billion to SPDR Barclays High Yield Bond (JNK).

Some of the largest Feb. 2012 ouflows included $3.6 billion from SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), $1.2 billion from iShares MSCI-EAFE (EFA), $794 million from iShares S&P 500 (IVV), and $645 million from SPDR DJIA (DIA).

-- Reported by Kevin Baker in Jupiter, Fla.



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Kevin Baker became the senior financial analyst for TheStreet Ratings upon the August 2006 acquisition of Weiss Ratings by TheStreet.com, covering equity and mutual fund ratings. He joined the Weiss Group in 1997 as a banking and brokerage analyst. In 1999, he created the Weiss Group's first ratings to gauge the level of risk in U.S. equities. Baker received a B.S. degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.B.A. with a finance specialization from Nova Southeastern University.