iShares

The firm has been locked in a contest with runner-up Vanguard for flows, with the latter winning last year for the first time since 2013.

The strategy has become the least-loved of the smart beta universe after failing to protect against market swings last year.

Complicating socially conscious investing is the fact the SEC doesn’t regulate how the category’s labeling is applied.

The decade’s top-performers have produced returns of more than four-times their industry peers this year.

Investors are placing their bets on value funds after the category posted its worst quarter this century in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Funds focused on the sector lost more than $2.4 billion in August, the most since 2016.

Investors are trying to eliminate the cash drag in their portfolios, says Dan Suzuki, deputy CIO at Richard Bernstein.

Total fees for the top 10 gold ETFs, based on current prices and holdings, are about $610 million a year.

The leaders raked in a combined $949 billion over the past decade.

A “distribution bump” from the commission-free trading trend that took hold late last year may be behind the surge, analysts say.

The central bank is now the third largest holder of the $54 billion iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD).

All of the funds in the suite carry a 0.18% expense ratio.

The ETF aims to track companies specializing in remote-working, learning and entertainment.

Corporate-debt funds have led the intake since the central bank first announced its Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility in March.

While the central bank’s support may help keep credit flowing amid the coronavirus, “it doesn’t necessarily improve the outlook for bankruptcies.”

The iShares fund saw the second-biggest inflow in its 18-year history after the central bank said it would begin buying corporate bonds and credit ETFs.

After becoming unmoored in recent weeks as bond market liquidity dried up, funds that stand to benefit from the central bank’s buying are now rallying.

The funds are trading at staggering discounts to their net asset values in what some have dubbed an “illiquidity doom loop.”

The fund paid out about $150 billion in redemptions Thursday, all in cash.

The company announced that it’s expanding its iShares iBonds suite with term Treasury ETFs that range from 2021 to 2029.