Investing December 10, 2012

ETF Assets Continue Climb

December 10, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – In November, exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets increased $27.8 billion, or 2.2%.
Reported by

According to State Street Global Advisors’ (SSgA) ETF Snapshot report, the Fixed Income category led the flows, taking in $4.5 billion for the month, which increased its year-to-date total net flows to $51.1 billion. The Size-Mid Cap category attracted $38 billion in inflows.  

During November, the S&P 500 Index returned 0.6%, while the MSCI Europe, Australasia and Far East (EAFE) Index increased 2.4%. Commodities were positive, with the S&P GSCI Index up 1.5% and Gold gaining 0.4%. U.S. Bonds were positive, with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index increasing 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively.  

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83% of the U.S.-listed ETF market. The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], the iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and the PowerShares QQQ [QQQ].  

SSgA said 1,237 ETFs, with assets totaling $1.3 trillion, were managed by 38 ETF managers as of November 30.

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