A pair of shorter duration fixed income exchange traded funds have seen notable inflow activity and share creations recently.
Specifically, iShares Barclays Short Treasury Bond (NYSEArca: SHV) has taken in about $600 million just this week alone in new assets, as has Vanguard Short Term Bond (NYSEArca: BSV), accumulating around the same amount.
SHV invests in U.S. Treasury Bonds that mature in a one and 12 month time frame, following the Barclays Capital U.S. Short Treasury Bond Index, while BSV tracks the Barclays Capital U.S. 1-5 Year Government/Credit Bond Index.
BSV is a bit broader than SHV in that it delves outside of U.S. Treasuries and also purchases investment grade corporate and investment grade international dollar denominated fixed income issues maturing between a one to five year time frame.
If one looks at a recent chart in either SHV or BSV the heavier volumes are apparent as both ETFs traded several million shares in one session, dwarfing the average trading volumes. It seems apparent that a larger institutional player is making a play on the short end of the fixed income curve and taking a large position in both funds.
iShares Barclays Short Treasury Bond
Chart source: StockCharts.com.
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