ETF Industry Data Summary: 1H'08

By Matthew Hougan

Investors poured more than $23.2 billion into ETFs in the first half of 2008. I've got all the numbers.

A few commentators have recently pointed out that total ETF asses are down this year, and it's true: According to the American Stock Exchange, ETF assets under management in the U.S. fell about $50 billion in the first half of 2008, from $623 billion to $573 billion.

But those numbers reflect a tough period for stocks, with the S&P 500 down 12% and the MSCI EAFE Index of international stocks down 10%. As mentioned, investors actually poured an additional $23.2 billion of new money into ETFs, according to my research.

The ETF industry also laid the groundwork for continued growth:

• ETF product issuers launched 84 new funds, while 18 unsuccessful funds were closed.
• Five new ETF product issuers entered the market: Bear Stearns (BSC), ALPS, Greenhaven, Northern Trust and RevenueShares

On a company-by-company basis, Vanguard showed the strongest inflows, attracting more than $17.1 billion in new money.  That was followed by ProShares at $9.8 billion, Van Eck at $3.3 billion, WisdomTree at $819 million and Rydex at $812 million.

On the flipside were SSgA, which saw $8 billion in net redemption activity, BGI with $1.4 billion in redemptions and HOLDRS with $1.2 billion in redemptions.

ETF Issuers YTD Creation Activity - As Of June 30, 2008
Vanguard	17,150,469,182
ProShares	9,825,560,250
Van Eck	3,321,563,000
WisdomTree	819,551,000
Rydex	811,877,429
PowerShares	639,256,008
Victoria Bay	404,849,912
Claymore	388,367,740
First Trust	227,639,000
Bear Stearns	50,125,000
Northern Trust	48,542,000
RevenueShares	40,794,054
XShares	34,452,000
Greenhaven	30,168,000
SPA	6,335,000
ALPS	4,197,300
Ziegler	(2,388,000)
FocusShares	(3,903,000)
Fidelity	(8,813,000)
MacroShares	(37,524,000)
HOLDRS	(1,159,392,548)
BGI	(1,408,622,000)
SSgA	(8,004,484,242)

On a net assets basis, however, BGI and SSgA continue to dominate the tables, with Vanguard, PowerShares and ProShares rounded out the "Big "Five." Together, these five companies hold $544 billion of the $573 billion in total assets under management.

ETF Industry Stats As of June 30, 2008
Fund Company	# of ETFs Total	# of ETFs Launched This Year	# of ETFs Closed This Year	Total AUM
BGI	161	7	0	293,659,438,050
SSgA	71	5	0	145,984,805,334
Vanguard				46,779,968,831
PowerShares	124	13	0	37,191,557,350
ProShares	64	0	0	20,458,346,010
Van Eck	13	5	0	6,734,474,700
Rydex	39	0	0	6,169,655,875
HOLDRS	17	0	0	5,761,398,154
WisdomTree	46	7	0	4,687,235,500
Victoria Bay	5	3	5	2,214,720,000
Claymore	31	6	11	2,040,135,188
First Trust	37	1	0	1,076,510,711
XShares	31	0	0	262,841,237
Fidelity	1	0	0	88,130,000
Bear Stearns	1	1	0	50,125,000
Northern Trust	15	15	0	48,542,000
RevenueShares	3	3	0	40,794,054
Greenhaven	1	1	0	30,168,000
MacroShares	2	2	2	22,491,000
SPA	6	0	0	18,926,476
FocusShares	4	0	0	15,764,393
Ziegler	1	0	0	4,871,520
ALPS	1	1	0	4,197,300

The fund-by-fund results look quite interesting as well.  On a fund-by-fund basis, the Vanguard Total Market ETF (VTI) scored the highest net inflows, at $5.5 billion, followed by the Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) at $4.3 billion and the Select Sector SPDR - Financials (XLF) at $4.2 billion.

Top Ten ETFs By Creation Value - YTD Through June 30, 2008
Vanguard Total Market ETF	VTI	5,499,989,151
Vanguard Emerging Markets ETF	VWO	4,295,570,523
Select Sector SPDR-Financial	XLF	4,157,224,343
UltraShort Oil & Gas ProShares	DUG	2,183,220,000
iShares Lehman TIPS Bond Fund	TIP	2,034,774,000
iShares Lehman Aggregate Bond Fund	AGG	1,616,274,000
PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund	DBA	1,388,310,000
Ultra Financials ProShares	UYG	1,297,575,000
Market Vectors--Agribusiness ETF	MOO	1,165,707,000
iShares S&P 500	IVV	1,155,370,500

Meanwhile, the leaders in net redemptions look like a who's who of the largest and most established ETFs on the market today, suggesting that investors are pulling assets out of these established funds covering core sectors of the market.

Largest Net Redemptions YTD Through June 30, 2008
S&P 500 SPDR	SPY	(16,872,076,113)
iShares MSCI-Emerging Markets	EEM	(4,637,490,000)
PowerShares QQQ Trust	QQQQ	(3,309,306,000)
iShares Russell 2000	IWM	(2,171,448,000)
iShares MSCI-EAFE	EFA	(1,662,960,000)
iShares MSCI-Japan	EWJ	(1,452,360,000)
Select Sector SPDR-Energy	XLE	(1,274,272,524)
iShares Russell 1000 Value	IWD	(876,456,000)
S&P 400 MidCap SPDR	MDY	(826,801,810)
iShares Russell 1000 Growth	IWF	(820,800,000)

One final table: the largest ETFs launched in 2008.  The Market Vectors - Coal (KOL) ETF tops all funds launched this year with $493 million in assets. KOL launched in early January and has been a stellar performer; in fact, it was the top performing ETF of all in the second quarter.  After that are a pair of WisdomTree funds: the Chinese Yuan currency fund (CYB) with $244 million and the India Earnings fund (EPI) with $241 million.

Largest ETFs Launched In 2008 - As Of June 30, 2008
Market Vectors - Coal ETF	KOL	493,195,500
WisdomTree Dreyfus Chinese Yuan Fund	CYB	244,032,000
WisdomTree India Earnings Fund	EPI	241,020,000
UltraShort Lehman 20+ Year Treasury ProShares	TBT	209,961,000
SPDR DB International Government Inflation-Protected Bond ETF	WIP	206,346,000
iShares MSCI Israel	EIS	187,170,000
Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy Index ETF	TAN	151,536,000
PowerShares Preferred Portfolio	PGX	109,525,000
WisdomTree Dreyfus Brazilian Real Fund	BZF	106,200,000
UltraShort Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury ProShares	PST	68,542,500

 

Comments

[mangy cat]

quick onceover suggests investors are getting more savvy
in both diversification, including leveraged funds, bonds, etc
and intolerance to excessive costs (vanguard flies vs bgi, ssga, holdrs; or at fund level: e.g. vwo vs eem)

p.s. freudian slip?
"total ETF asses"?
(paragraph 2)

[Jessica08]

I think it is great that more investors are investing in ETFs. I just shows that the market players are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of ETFs over Mutual Funds and individual stocks. I hope to see the numbers grow over the next few years.