ETF Assets Continue Surge

Assets held in domestic exchange-traded funds increased 28% last year to $994.7 billion.

According to a report issued Tuesday by State Street Global Advisors, assets rose as investors increased their appetite for dividend/fundamental ETFs (up 99%), commodity ETFs (up 46%), and emerging markets ETFs (up 43%).

As of Dec. 31, 950 ETFs were managed nationally 33 fund managers. In December, industry assets rose 6.8%.

The S&P 500 Index rose 6.7% in December while the MSCI EAFE index gained 8.1%. U.S. bonds declined 1.8% and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index declined 1.1%. Gold rose 1.6% to $1,405 per ounce.

Last year, emerging market ETFs dominated, gaining $43.9 billion in assets, followed by commodity funds, which gained $31 billion, and fixed income, which added $28.8 billion.

For all of last year, ETF flows topped $11 billion, marking the fourth consecutive year of more than $100 billion of net inflows. International-Emerging and fixed income were by far the largest recipients, gaining $27.1 billion and $26.4 billion respectively.

The top three fund managers in U.S. ETF marketplace remained BlackRock (45.2% share), State Street (23.7% share), and Vanguard (14.9% share.) Collectively, they accounted for approximately 83.7% of the U.S. listed ETF market. Vanguard, which managed $148.3 billion in ETF asses, increased its share of the market by 3.2% in 2010.

 

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
ETFs
MORE FROM FINANCIAL PLANNING