Helped by a strong showing in June, inflows to U.S. exchange traded funds totaled $74 billion in the first half of this year with a third, or $26 billion, of that total coming in last month.
Combined assets under management at U.S.-listed exchange traded products, including ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs) now reside at a record $1.86 trillion.
“Among the ten biggest asset gatherers in the first half, six of them were Vanguard products. iShares still is the U.S. ETF market leader (39% share) followed by State Street (22%),Vanguard (21%) and PowerShares (6%),” said S&P Capital IQ in a new research note.
The Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VEA) was the top asset-gathering ETF through the first six months of 2014 with inflows of $4 billion, according to S&P Capital IQ. The research firm rates VEA overweight. [ETF Flows Firm in Q2]
VEA, which is up 4.4% this year, allocates a combined 40.1% of its weight to British and Japanese stocks. France, Germany and Switzerland round out the ETF’s top-five country weights. VEA charges just 0.09% per year, beating 93% of rival funds on fees, according to Vanguard.
Other international ETFs also flexed their asset-gathering acumen in the first six months of 2014. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (NYSEArca: VGK) and the iShares MSCI EMU ETF (NYSEArca: EZU) combined for first-half inflows of $6 billion, according to S&P Capital IQ. The research firm rates each ETF marketweight.
VGK and EZU were not the only impressive asset gatherers among Europe ETFs in the first six months of 2014. For example, the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund (NYSEArca: HEDJ) topped $1 billion in AUM in April and has since nearly doubled to $1.9 billion. The WisdomTree Europe SmallCap Dividend Fund (NYSEArca: DFE) crossed the $1 billion in mark in February and has since grown by 76%. [Maybe the Best Europe ETF…Again]
In the second quarter, iShares was the inflows leader due in large part to nearly $6 billion of inflows to the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: EEM). [iShares Leads Q2 ETF Flows]