As a result of the structural risks stemming from weak employment growth along with the lessening likelihood of another quantitative easing plan, the equity markets and stock exchange traded funds experienced large sell-offs over the past week.
According to Thomson Reuters’ Lipper, equity funds saw $7.0 billion in net redemptions in the week ended April 11, with the majority coming from U.S. stock ETFs, reports Herbert Lash for Reuters. The S&P 500 Index was down 2.2% over the week. [S&P 500 ETFs Battle 50-Day Moving Average]
Investors took out $6.9 from equity U.S.-related funds, with $5.7 billion coming out of U.S. stock ETFs. Another $343 million was pulled from non-U.S. stock ETFs. The high flows suggests that institutional investors had a large hand in the redemptions.
Around half of all the money outflows came from ETFs tracking the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) lost $2.0 billion in assets and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (NYSEArca: DIA) surrendered $678 million.