The Markets February 8, 2011

ETF Assets Continue Rise

Exchange-traded fund assets increased $8.8 billion (0.9%) during the month of January, to a total of approximately $1 trillion, according to State Street Global Advisors ETF Snapshot report.

Reported by

Rebecca Moore

As of January 31, 2011, 970 ETFs were managed by 33 ETF managers.

ETF flows topped $9 billion — the fifth consecutive month of positive flows, the report said. Large Cap and Fixed Income have the most inflows with $6.6 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively. International-Emerging and Commodities had the most outflows, losing $4.5 billion and $2.7 billion, respectively. Small Caps had more than $1.4 billion in outflows.

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83.4% of the U.S. 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 PowerShares QQQ [QQQQ]. 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].

According to the report, both the S&P 500 Index and MSCI EAFE Index rose 2.7%. US bonds were relatively unchanged with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index falling 0.02% and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index rising 0.1%. Gold fell 5.6%, to $1,327 per ounce.

Large Cap gains were driven mainly by inflows to the SPDR S&P 500. Losses in Emerging Markets were driven by a combination of negative performance and outflows. Commodity losses were mostly attributed to negative performance in the gold market.