Major financial services exchange traded funds tracking the financial services sector have been solid though not spectacular performers this month, but it looks like some investors are not waiting around for the spectacular to materialize.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF), the largest financial services ETF, entered Monday with an October gain of nearly 1%, but some investors are not displaying much faith that the ETF and its comrades will add to October’s modest upside.
As Eric Balchunas notes for Bloomberg, XLF shed $876 million in assets, the largest one-day outflow from the ETF since May 2012.
XLF is not alone when it comes to lost assets among financial services ETFs. Last week, the iShares U.S. Financials ETF (NYSEArca: IYF) lost $155.3 million in assets while the Vanguard Financials ETF (NYSEArca: VFH) shed $120.3 million.
The First Trust Financial AlphaDEX Fund (NYSEArca: FXO) was also an outflow offender last week, bleeding almost $348 million in assets. FXO has posted a modest gain over the past month while rival financial services ETFs have traded slightly lower over that period.
The holdings are selected based “on growth factors including three, six and 12-month price appreciation, sales to price and one year sales growth, and, separately, on value factors including book value to price, cash flow to price and return on assets,” according to First Trust.