ETF Assets Increase During April

According to State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) most-recent “ETF Snapshot” report 1,252 ETFs, with assets totaling $1.5 trillion, were managed by 37 ETF managers as of April 30, 2013.

The S&P 500 returned 1.9%, while the MSCI EAFE gained 5.2%. Commodities were negative, with the S&P GSCI down 4.7% and gold decreasing 8.1%. U.S. bonds were positive, with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index increasing 0.9% and 1%, respectively.

ETF flows neared $4.3 billion in April. The fixed income category had a leading $6.3 billion of inflows, increasing its year-to-date total net flows to $13.4 billion. The commodity category had the most significant outflows during the month of April, with $1.8 billion leaving the category.

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], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and SPDR Gold Shares [GLD].