ETF Assets Drop $46B in May

June 8, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – ETF industry assets fell $46 billion for the month of May, or 5.5%, according to State Street Global Advisors’ ETF Snapshot.

As of May 31, 885 ETFs in the U.S. with assets totaling approximately $784 billion were managed by 32 ETF managers, the report said.   

While the MSCI EAFE Index fell 11.4%. U.S. bonds rose, with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index gaining 1.7% and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index climbing 0.8%. Gold rose $28 to $1,207 per ounce.   

Declines in the Size and International categories accounted for nearly three quarters of the total drop in ETF AUM. Only Fixed Income, Commodity, and Inverse/Leveraged ETFs had an increase in assets.

Large Cap assets fell $12.1 billion, followed by Mid Cap, down $2.6 billion. REITs, Energy, and Technology each fell over $1 billion in assets for the month.

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard. Collectively, they accounted for approximately 84% of the US-listed ETF market, according to the report.  

The top three products 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 SPY dollar volume for May was nearly double that of April.  

The top three products in terms of assets were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], SPDR® Gold Shares [GLD], and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets [EEM].

«