Noting that IWM has underperformed the U.S. large-cap iShares Russell 1000 (NYSEArca: IWB) year to date, down 17.82% versus 10.48%, it is feasible that institutional managers are pulling assets away from larger cap equities and funneling the money into small caps in hopes that the performance differential will narrow going into the year’s end and early 2012. [ETF Chart of the Day: U.S. Small Caps]
Also on the inflows side, a number of fixed income ETFs including Vanguard Short Term Bond (NYSEArca: BSV), iShares Barclays TIPS Bond (NYSEArca: TIP) and iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond (NYSEArca: HYG) were very active, accumulating about $1.5 billion collectively during the week. [ETF Spotlight: Vanguard Short Term Bond]
Investors also seem to be making a rebound play in silver after the recent drubbing, as iShares Silver (NYSEArca: SLV) and ProShares Ultra Silver (NYSEArca: AGQ) net took in new assets this week. [Leveraged Silver ETFs on Wild Ride]
iPath S&P 500 VIX Short Term Futures ETN
Chart source: StockCharts.com.
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