By the end of July, exchange traded fund assets grew 14% from year-end 2011, with $89 billion in new cash flows. For the month of July alone, assets grew by 2.6%, since the end of June, according to S&P Capital IQ.
The main growth of ETF assets, from inflows and market results, “basically occurred in the first two months of 2012, when ETF assets were up $139 billion, or 13%, from where they were at year-end 2011,” wrote Tom Graves, S&P Capital IQ ETF analyst, in his latest report.
According to Morningstar data, U.S. equity assets made up about 50% of total inflows, with $7.5 billion in new money going to large-value and large-blend ETFs. The top ten ETF providers accounted for 89% of total ETF inflows. Furthermore, the top three ETF providers, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, have a combined market share that accounts for about 84% of industry assets, at the end of July. [ETFs Outperform Mutual Funds]
Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: VWO) had the largest net inflow, bringing in $9 billion for the first seven months of 2012. [Investors Moved Back to Stock ETFs in July]
Commodity ETFs and taxable bond ETFs had some of the slowest times in over a year. Commodity ETFs lost $1.6 billion, while taxable bond funds saw a mere trickle of $1.2 billion, reports Morningstar.
Overall cash flows into ETFs has likely picked up assets from the mutual fund industry and from single-stock owners, reports Graves. [ETF Asset Growth Remains Strong in 2012]
ETF industry assets are still dwarfed by the size of the mutual fund industry. The proliferation into the 401(k) market and the ongoing move into active management with ETFs will help foster more growth in the business going forward. [ETF Spotlight: VWO]
Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.