ETF Fund Flows (Week Ending 5/2/08)

By Matthew Hougan

The ETF industry ended up with $201 million in net creation activity for the week ending May 2, 2008, a light week for an industry where billion-dollar swings are the norm. Once again, the number of ETFs enjoying creation activity outnumbered the number with redemption activity, 141 to 87.

Largest Creation Value

The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) topped all funds with $1.1 billion in net creation value, helping to push total assets on the fund back over the $10 billion mark.

From there, the list of the top 20 funds is a real hodgepodge. Interestingly, the popular iShares 1-3 Year Treasury ETF (SHY) notched a second place by gathering more than $670 million in new assets, while the iShares Short Treasury (SHV) fund pulled in $154 million.

Four UltraShort ProShares funds make the list, suggesting some investors expect a pullback in the market soon: Oil & Gas, NASDAQ-100, Financials and S&P 500.

Two currency funds also make notable appearances: the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (UUP) and the Rydex Euro Currency Trust (FXE).

There are no obvious trends in where investors were placing their money.

ETF Creation Activity - Week Ending May 2, 2008
Fund	Ticker	Total Assets	Creation Value
iShares Russell 2000	IWM	10,683,400,000	1,070,160,000
iShares Lehman 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Fund	SHY	9,956,496,000	672,624,000
S&P 400 MidCap SPDR	MDY	8,962,499,480	386,075,000
iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25	FXI	7,409,904,500	362,227,000
ProShares UltraShort Oil & Gas	DUG	1,558,836,000	289,218,000
ProShares UltraShort QQQ	QID	1,475,344,500	249,354,000
PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund	UUP	346,408,000	154,972,000
Rydex Euro Currency Trust	FXE	1,329,517,000	154,595,000
iShares Lehman Short Treasury Bond Fund	SHV	891,486,000	154,084,000
Select Sector SPDR-Materials	XLB	1,851,660,876	137,020,000
Select sector SPDR-Technology	XLK	3,183,269,244	126,582,000
iShares S&P MidCap 400	IJH	4,919,157,000	105,925,000
KBW Bank ETF	KBE	800,463,114	104,590,500
Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF	VWO	7,116,145,697	102,725,212
ProShares UltraShort Financials	SKF	2,038,673,250	98,080,500
MACROshares Oil Up Tradeable Shares	UCR	395,730,500	82,522,000
iShares Lehman Aggregate Bond Fund	AGG	8,795,962,000	81,256,000
SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF	XHB	1,080,268,000	80,360,000
iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond Fund	HYG	729,000,000	77,760,000
ProShares UltraShort S&P 500	SDS	2,431,068,000	75,708,000

Largest Redemption Value

Redemption activity was light across the ETF space, with the Select Sector SPDR (XLE) fund topping the list with $791 million in net redemptions.

Two energy names saw significant pullbacks, with redemptions in both the Oil Services HOLDRS (OIH) and United States Oil Fund (USO).

But generally, redemptions were light across the board.

ETF Redemption Activity - Week Ending May 2, 2008
Fund	Ticker	Total Assets	Redemption Value
Select Sector SPDR-Energy	XLE	5,088,257,680	(790,955,000)
PowerShares QQQ Trust	QQQQ	18,496,830,000	(487,400,000)
Retail HOLDRS	RTH	543,309,060	(351,797,220)
Oil Services HOLDRS	OIH	2,312,570,512	(297,340,596)
streetTRACKS Gold Trust	GLD	15,920,329,000	(294,665,000)
Select Sector SPDR-Financial	XLF	8,087,375,502	(268,417,500)
DJIA DIAMONDS	DIA	9,285,319,791	(260,040,000)
United States Oil Fund LP	USO	462,315,000	(226,625,000)
iShares S&P SmallCap 600	IJR	4,345,929,000	(203,616,000)
Select Sector SPDR-Industrial	XLI	1,734,560,793	(186,192,000)
iShares MSCI-EAFE	EFA	47,076,102,000	(180,888,000)
iShares Russell 2000 Growth	IWO	2,883,040,000	(179,216,000)
iShares S&P 500	IVV	19,323,435,000	(176,437,500)
Ultra QQQ ProShares	QLD	1,091,697,750	(161,493,750)
Select Sector SPDR-Consumer Staples	XLP	2,397,592,364	(153,526,500)
iShares Nasdaq Biotech	IBB	1,363,939,500	(151,107,000)
iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund	TLT	1,662,731,000	(130,046,000)
iShares DJ US Real Estate	IYR	2,113,631,000	(127,242,000)
Rydex Japanese Yen Trust	FXY	1,002,468,500	(105,523,000)

Comments

[omooc]

Excellent presentation. It would be even better were it more timely. A minor suggestion: present data in million $ -- this makes reading easier. Thanks for your service. omooc