Flows into U.S. Bond ETFs grew with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index shooting up 1.6% and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index rising 1.3%. The S&P 500 Index fell 1.1%, while the MSCI EAFE Index dropped 2.8%. Investors pulled money out of the S&P GSCI Index even though Gold remained flat.
Meanwhile, fixed income assets gained $5.3 billion, a sign that investors are moving into more conservative investments.
ETF flows declined $218 million in May. As of May 31, 2011, there were 1,074 ETFs with assets totaling $1.1 trillion managed by 35 ETF managers. The industry as a whole took a beating, with assets falling $22.7 billion in May, a decline of 2.0%.
Large Caps saw the greatest outflows, with a decline of $8 billion, a reversal from April when large caps saw $6.7 billion in inflows. Commodity ETFs also took a hit with $3.4 billion in outflows, after a strong April. International-Developed and Emerging Markets also fell, tumbling 2.8% and 2.6%, respectively. Domestic Large Cap, Mid Cap and Small Cap markets slid approximately 1%, while the US Aggregate Bond, the US Treasury Bond, and the US Corporate Bond markets increased approximately 1.5%.
The top three managers in the US ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, which account for approximately 83% of the US listed ETF market. The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM], and iShares Silver Trust [SLV]. The top three ETFs in terms of assets for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], SPDR Gold Shares [GLD], and Vanguard Emerging Markets [VWO].
