Investing September 16, 2010

ETF Assets Down 2.7% in August

September 16, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Assets in the exchange-traded funds (ETF) space fell $21.8 billion to $800 billion in August, down 2.7%, according to the latest data from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).
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Declines in the size categories accounted for the majority of the total equity AUM drop, SSgA said. Large Cap assets fell $15.4 billion, followed by Small Cap, down $3.6 billion. All size and style categories declined in assets.

Meanwhile, the Fixed Income and Commodity categories rose $3.9 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively.  Year-to-date, areas with significant positive asset growth are Commodities: up $11 billion, Fixed Income: up $31.1 billion, and Dividend/Fundamental: up $4.4 billion. Eight of ten sectors fell for the month with Financials losing the most, down $1.2 billion. Utilities and Materials were up slightly in absolute terms.

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, collectively snapping up approximately 84.3% 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], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and PowerShares QQQ [QQQQ]. The top three ETFs in terms of assets for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], SPDR Gold Shares [GLD], and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets [EEM].

More information is at www.spdrs.com.

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