ETF Fund Flows (Week Ending 3/7/08)

By Matthew Hougan

Redemptions returned to the exchange-traded funds industry last week, as investors pulled $1.2 billion from ETFs for the week ending March 7, 2008. Poor market performance meant that total assets in ETFs fell a sharp $20.9 billion, and now stands at just $556 billion.

Once again, however, the number of funds posting net creation activity far outweighed the number posting net redemption activity, 138 to 96.

Largest Net Creations

A few important facts stand out about the list of ETFs enjoying the highest creation activity. For starters, just nine of the funds were equity funds, despite the fact that the vast majority of ETFs are equity ETFs.

Five fixed-income funds made it into the Top 20 this week, headlined by the iShares Lehman TIPS Bond Fund (TIP), which was likely helped by rising inflation expectations.

Six commodity-focused ETFs made the list, headlined by the PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA), which had $264 million in net creation activity.

The other interesting thing is that, for the first time in recent history, two leveraged long ProShares make the list: the ProShares Ultra Financials (UYG) and ProShares Ultra QQQ (QLD).

[Editor's Note: The following tables contain the correct creation/redemption data for the week ending March 7, 2008. The original article included incorrect data due to a spreadsheet error.]

Largest Net Creation Activity: Week Ending March 7, 2008
Fund Name	Ticker	Net Assets	Net Creation Activity
iShares Russell 2000	IWM	$8,763,534,000	$750,121,500
DJIA DIAMONDS	DIA	$8,655,566,652	$656,888,500
PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund	DBA	$3,027,016,000	$263,936,000
streetTRACKS Gold Trust	GLD	$20,244,291,000	$259,173,000
iShares Lehman TIPS Bond	TIP	$6,617,786,000	$252,839,000
iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index	ILF	$3,509,478,000	$228,879,000
iShares Russell 1000	IWB	$3,657,200,000	$206,944,000
SPDR Lehman International Treasury Bond	BWX	$609,984,000	$180,736,000
SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production	XOP	$301,484,000	$157,412,000
iShares Lehman MBS Fixed-Rate Bond Fund	MBB	$512,040,000	$120,480,000
ProShares Ultra Financials	UYG	$511,940,250	$117,978,000
iShares MSCI-Taiwan	EWT	$3,171,860,000	$113,050,000
iShares Lehman Aggregate Bond	AGG	$8,471,383,000	$111,067,000
iShares S&P 500/BARRA Growth	IVW	$5,898,310,000	$105,995,000
SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF	XME	$612,457,000	$99,616,500
ProShares Ultra QQQ	QLD	$1,009,368,750	$98,475,000
iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond	LQD	$3,421,368,000	$93,879,000
iShares COMEX Gold Trust	IAU	$1,959,705,000	$81,855,000
PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund	DBC	$2,309,384,000	$74,980,000
Vanguard Total Market ETF	VTI	$9,576,257,676	$72,132,530

Data from the American Stock Exchange

Largest Net Redemptions

The great drawdown in the S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) continued this week, with investors pulling $3.4 billion out of the fund. That makes it six straight weeks of large-scale redemptions, with the total redemption value rising to $20.7 billion.

SPY was hardly alone with large-scale redemptions, however. Six funds notched $1 billion-plus redemptions this week, with popular names like the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM) and iShares MSCI EAFE Fund (EFA) holding court near the top of the list.

Largest Net Redemption Activity: Week Ending March 7, 2008
Fund Name	Ticker	Net Assets	Net Creation Activity
S&P 400 MidCap SPDR	MDY	$7,093,400,160	($650,116,500)
Select Sector SPDR-Financial	XLF	$4,800,392,774	($446,121,000)
Select Sector SPDR-Energy	XLE	$5,348,158,909	($350,935,500)
iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25	FXI	$5,490,953,000	($307,837,000)
S&P 500 SPDR	SPY	$65,253,869,743	($255,040,500)
iShares S&P 500	IVV	$16,969,680,000	($248,976,000)
ProShares UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua China 25	FXP	$621,580,500	($234,987,750)
iShares DJ US Transportation	IYT	$227,220,000	($231,277,500)
Select Sector SPDR-Utilities	XLU	$1,768,011,588	($227,640,000)
Vanguard Mid-Cap ETF	VO	$1,012,124,344	($203,280,000)
Vanguard Small-Cap ETF	VB	$979,315,383	($186,465,000)
iShares DJ US Real Estate	IYR	$1,540,458,000	($185,814,000)
SPDR S&P Retail ETF	XRT	$171,024,000	($175,605,000)
iShares MSCI-EAFE	EFA	$46,012,140,000	($172,008,000)
iShares MSCI-EMU	EZU	$2,571,426,000	($169,312,000)
ProShares UltraShort QQQ	QID	$1,513,867,500	($157,177,500)
iShares Nasdaq Biotech	IBB	$1,273,316,500	($150,449,500)
Oil Services HOLDRS	OIH	$2,272,831,592	($132,840,856)
iShares MSCI-Emerging Markets	EEM	$25,268,640,000	($103,560,000)
iShares S&P SmallCap 600	IJR	$3,723,637,500	($99,297,000)

Data from the American Stock Exchange

ETF Industry Analysis

ProShares was by far the fastest-growing ETF provider last week, with total assets under management rising $905 million to top the $16 billion mark. It wasn't due to investor interest, however; there were actually net redemptions in the funds. Instead, the strong downward movement in the market helped boost total assets, as the fund's assets are predominantly in short and leveraged short funds.

On a pure creation basis, Vanguard was the most popular fund family last week, pulling in over $600 million in net creation activity. That, however, was overwhelmed by the broader market movements, and Vanguard ended up with assets down over $1.3 billion for the week.

ETF Fund Families Sorted By Weekly Asset Growth-Week Ending 3/7/08
ETF Family	Assets Change	Creation Activity	Total Net Assets
ProShares	$904,570,590	($199,833,750)	$16,009,883,230
Victoria Bay	$113,527,000	$83,486,000	$1,133,968,000
MacroShares	$10,022,500	$10,022,500	$88,198,000
GreenHaven	$3,565,000	$3,547,000	$35,470,000
Ziegler	$2,128,280	$2,318,000	$7,046,720
Xshares	-	($10,174,543)	$257,736,591
SPA	($1,040,562)	-	$18,191,212
Fidelity	($2,052,000)	-	$78,102,000
FocusShares	($2,183,217)	-	$21,747,650
RevenueShares	($3,685,130)	($2,531)	$14,426,282
First Trust	($76,499,295)	($26,845,000)	$870,064,608
Claymore	($116,788,812)	$6,562,000	$1,844,466,568
WisdomTree	($176,301,745)	$293,292,500	$4,225,342,731
HOLDRS	($289,675,818)	($184,742,861)	$7,110,181,470
Rydex	($310,600,598)	($677,134,571)	$5,479,030,960
PowerShares	($576,068,882)	$471,204,500	$35,982,792,632
Van Eck	($860,587,450)	($560,987,400)	$5,463,188,800
Vanguard	($1,351,410,035)	$630,573,348	$41,915,998,229
BGI	($11,847,093,750)	($351,667,750)	$301,553,967,400
SSgA	($26,633,208,045)	($11,099,777,083)	$134,078,715,108

Data from the American Stock Exchange

ETF Assets By Fund Family

IndexUniverse.com's ETF industry league table remains largely unchanged for the week, with BGI holding onto the top slot at $301.6 million in assets.

Assets By ETF Family-Sorted By Total Assets As Of 3/7/08
Fund Company	Total Assets
BGI	$301,553,967,400
SSgA	$134,078,715,108
Vanguard	$41,915,998,229
PowerShares	$35,982,792,632
ProShares	$16,009,883,230
HOLDRS	$7,110,181,470
Rydex	$5,479,030,960
Van Eck	$5,463,188,800
WisdomTree	$4,225,342,731
Claymore	$1,844,466,568
Victoria Bay	$1,133,968,000
First Trust	$870,064,608
XShares	$257,736,591
MacroShares	$88,198,000
Fidelity	$78,102,000
GreenHaven	$35,470,000
FocusShares	$21,747,650
SPA	$18,191,212
RevenueShares	$14,426,282
Ziegler	$7,046,720

Data from the American Stock Exchange