Fixed Income ETFs Top Inflows

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. Net cash inflows totaling $4.2 billion in May brought ETF net cash inflows year-to-data up to $63.1 billion.

Overall assets under management in exchange-traded products, covering 1,465 exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, plunged by $68.4 billion in May to end at $1.1 trillion. All of the asset and flow data included in this article was released on Monday, June 4th by the ETF Industry Association.

In the 17th consecutive month of net inflows to fixed income ETFs, the pace increased to $8.9 billion for May reaching a year to date inflow of $30.2 billion. Bond investors expressed caution in May with a flight to quality. $1.2 billion exited from SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond (JNK) and $522 million left iShares iBoxx High Yield Corp Bond (HYG). Meanwhile, large inflows of $1.2 billion were seen by Vanguard Barclays Total Bond (BND), $1.1 billion into iShares Barclays 1-3 Yr Treas (SHY), $638 million into iShares Barclays TIPS (TIP), and $614 million into iShares iBoxx Inv Grade Corp Bond (LQD).

After May's $1.5 billion outflow from all commodity funds, that sector's net inflows year-to-date has shrunk to just $1.9 billion. $374 million flowed out of SPDR Gold (GLD) while $198 million vacated iShares COMEX Gold (IAU) in May.

The largest outflow in May came from the $3.3 billion leaving global and international equity ETF category. $1.5 billion abandoned iShares MSCI-Emerging Mkts (EEM), $622 million left Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO), $196 million exited iShares FTSE China 25 (FXI), and $181 million fled iShares MSCI-Japan (EWJ).

Other large May 2012 inflows included $518 million to iShares MSCI-EAFE (EFA), $438 million to Market Vectors Gold Miners (GDX), $960 million to Vanguard MSCI SmallCap (VB), and $644 million to Vanguard S&P 500 (VOO).

Some of the largest May 2012 outflows included $1.1 billion from iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), $782 million from SPDR Financial (XLF), and $703 million from SPDR Energy (XLE).

Among the exchange-traded fund issuers for May 2012, Vanguard accumulated the most inflows at $6.7 billion. This was followed by PIMCO with an inflow of $806 million. Nearly $1.8 billion flowed out of SSgA marketed products and Blackrock (BLK) shed $642 million in a net cash outflow.

-- 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.