November Sees Record High ETF Assets

December 8, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – According to the latest ETF Snapshot report by State Street Global Advisers (SSgA), assets in the U.S. exchange-traded fund industry totaled approximately $739 billion as of November 30, an all-time, month-end high.

ETF assets climbed $50.3 billion or 7.3% during the month, the report said. The SPDR Gold Shares saw the most inflows during the month ($1.1 billion), followed by the SPDR S&P 500 ($1 billion), according to SSgA data.

The International and Size categories rose the most in absolute terms, up $13.8 billion and $10.4 billion, respectively. Fixed Income assets – which topped $98 billion, a gain of 5.1% for the month – were the third largest category behind International and Size ETFs.

Performance was positive for all style categories, though Value slightly outperformed Growth. Gains were concentrated in the Large Cap category, which increased more than $8.3 billion.

All ten sectors had positive performance for the month, with Materials posting an 11.6% return and Health Care posting a 9.3% return in November. However, in spite of a 4.4% return, financials was the only sector to lose assets in the month, down $276 million or 2.7%.

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace as of November 30 were Barclay’s Global Investors, State Street Global Advisors, and Vanguard, according to the SSgA data. Collectively, they accounted for approximately 84.3% of the U.S.-listed ETF market.

The top three U.S. ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500, PowerShares QQQ, and iShares Russell 2000.

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