July ETF Assets: Commodities Fall

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July’s exchange traded fund (ETF) asset breakdown is out, and the numbers show an interesting picture: commodity ETFs fell out of favor while emerging markets saw a resurgence of interest.

National Stock Exchange  announced that assets in U.S.-listed ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs) totaled approximately $835.2 billion at July 2010 month-end. That number represents an increase of about 29% over July 2009. [June ETF Assets.]

The number of ETFs and ETNs available also surged to 1,031, a 21% increase from a year ago.

Where did the money go?

• Fixed-income and the global/international equities led all categories with inflows at $4.59 billion and $4.51 billion respectively for the month.
• Commodities saw the biggest outflows at $1.77 billion for the month of July.  [The July ETF Performance Report.]
• Currencies also saw their assets dip to $4.9 billion in July, down about $400 million in June.

Among the providers, iShares gathered nearly $7 billion in new money last month. The race between iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: EEM) and Vanguard Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: VWO) continued: VWO pulled in $2 billion in new money to finish the month with $29.1 billion. EEM has $39 billion.

For more performance reports, visit our performance report category.

Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.