Assets held in exchange-traded funds increased 4.9% in December, according to monthly data released Monday by State Street Global Advisors.
According to SSgA, a unit of State Street Corp., the fund class completed a strong year. As of Dec. 31, 819 exchange-traded funds in the United States managed by 31 fund companies had $776 billion.
ETF assets increased 45% last year as the total number of funds increased 10%. That compares with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which rose 1.9% in December and was up 26.5% for the year.
In 2009, mid-cap ETFs had the largest gain as they added $6.7 billion and assets increased 43.4%.
In December, BlackRock Inc. completed its $13.5 billion