June ETF Fund Flows Return to Equities

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 $12.9 billion in June brought ETF net cash inflows year-to-data up to $75.9 billion.

Overall assets under management in exchange-traded products, covering 1,476 exchange-traded funds and exchange-traded notes, surged by $41.1 billion in June to end at $1.18 trillion. All of the asset and flow data included in this article was released on Tuesday, July 3rd by the ETF Industry Association.

U.S. equity exchange-traded products did well in June with total net inflows of $4.6 billion. These U.S. equity funds represent the second largest recipient of new money at $22.7 billion year-to-date. $1.3 billion flowed into SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) reversing the year-to-date net outflow to a net gain of $561 million. PowerShares QQQ (QQQ) pulled in a $1.4 billion net cash flow in June while $454 million exited from SPDR DJIA (DIA).

Together with the nearly $1.2 billion flowing into the global and international equity ETF category, equity inflows outpaced fixed income in June. The largest June inflows came to Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO) at $1.0 billion, making this fund the largest collector of year-to-date cash flow at $7.4 billion. iShares MSCI-Emerging Mkts (EEM) at $226 million, Wisdom Tree EM Equity Income (DEM) at $223 million and iShares MSCI-Brazil (EWZ) at $133 million all drew in positive net cash flows for June.

In the 18th consecutive month of net inflows, another $4.8 billion entered fixed income ETFs in June setting the mark for year-to-date inflow at $35.1 billion. June witnessed large inflows of $1.3 billion into iShares iBoxx Inv Grade Corp Bond (LQD), $372 million into Vanguard Barclays Total Bond (BND), and $591 million into Vanguard Barclays Short Term Bond (BSV). Government note investments didn't fare as well with $650 million flowing out of iShares Barclays 1-3 Yr Treas (SHY) and $117 million exiting from iShares Barclays 7-10 Yr Treas (IEF).

Some of the largest June 2012 inflows included $502 million to SPDR Gold (GLD), $582 million to Vanguard MSCI REIT (VNQ), and $770 million to iShares Barclays Intermediate Credit (CIU).

Some of the largest June 2012 outflows included $965 million from Vanguard MSCI SmallCap (VB), $515 million from iShares Russell Midcap (IWR), and $523 million from Vanguard MSCI LargeCap Value (VTV).

Among the exchange-traded fund issuers for June 2012, SSgA accumulated the most inflows at $4.8 billion. This was followed by Blackrock (BLK) bringing in net cash flows of $3.5 billion, Invesco/PowerShares inflows at $1.7 billion, and Vanguard inflows at $1.3 billion.

-- Reported by Kevin Baker in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.



For additional Investment Research check out our Ratings Research Center.

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.