iShares funds take in $9.8 billion as SOXX alone adds $5.3 billion

iShares funds took in a net $9.78 billion in the week to Oct. 25, about two-thirds of the prior week's $15.03 billion, according to iShares' published daily fund data. It was also below the $17.12 billion of the week to Oct. 4.

The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) alone took in $5.34 billion, more than half the net total. The other funds netted about $4.44 billion. Gross inflows were $21.37 billion and gross outflows $11.59 billion, with 249 funds taking in money and 181 losing it.

SOXX's inflow was roughly an eighth of its $43.2 billion in assets, while IVV's $2.02 billion outflow was about 0.23% of its $873.6 billion. Both asset figures are as of Oct. 23. IWM's $2.46 billion outflow was about 3.3% of its $74.2 billion. IVV's loss is a large dollar figure on a very large fund.

The figures cover only iShares (BlackRock) funds, 433 funds with flow records and $4.46 trillion in assets, not the whole ETF market. The chart below shows the week to Oct. 11 at roughly -$289.6 trillion, more than the covered funds' total assets. That is likely a calculation error in the share-count data, though this is unconfirmed, so that week's total is left out of the comparisons here. The same distortion runs through the four-week totals for equity, index funds and the Other equity category.

Sector and thematic funds were the week's largest category inflow at $3.67 billion, up from $285 million the prior week. SOXX's $5.34 billion was bigger than the whole category's net figure. IGV, the iShares software ETF, lost $1.07 billion, and the other 24 funds in the category had a combined net outflow of about $607 million.

Municipal bond funds added $2.96 billion, their fourth straight weekly inflow and $8.45 billion over four weeks. MUB supplied $2.30 billion, about 78% of the category. International and emerging funds added $2.05 billion, also positive in each of the four weeks, for $6.81 billion over the period. EMXC, the emerging markets ex-China fund, took in $1.44 billion, and its inflows have risen each week from $159 million in the week to Oct. 4. Corporate and high-yield funds took in $2.00 billion, against $81 million the prior week, with LQD's $1.30 billion inflow outweighing HYG's $590 million outflow. Treasury funds swung to a $1.27 billion inflow from a $2.13 billion outflow.

Small and mid cap funds lost $2.36 billion after taking in $3.31 billion the prior week. US large cap and broad market funds lost $1.39 billion after adding $1.67 billion. Factor and style funds slowed to $516 million from $5.54 billion. Real estate funds lost $378 million, with outflows in each of the four weeks, widening from $13 million in the first week. The pattern suggests money held up in bonds and non-US equity while it left the US index funds that had drawn it the week before. Figures in the table below come from iShares' published daily NAV and shares outstanding, with flow calculated as the change in shares outstanding times NAV.

Fixed income funds took in $7.0 billion in the week to Oct. 25, more than 70% of the net total and a reversal from a $579 million outflow the week before. Equity funds took in $2.69 billion, down from $14.60 billion. Digital assets, which at iShares means the single fund IBIT, added $630 million after $781 million the prior week and have been positive in all four weeks. The chart's Other bucket lost $533 million, mainly from real estate and multi-asset funds, partly offset by $41 million into commodity funds.

The asset index chart is only a rough guide to direction. Issuer fund records show equity assets of $41.89 billion on Sept. 28 and $41.99 billion on Oct. 23, up 0.2%, and fixed income assets of $9.67 billion and $9.78 billion, up 1.1%. Those totals are smaller than the $43.23 billion SOXX alone held on Oct. 23, so the series cannot be matched to fund-level assets, and it cannot separate new money from price moves.

Active funds took in $324.6 million in the week to Oct. 25, about 3% of the net inflow, against $9.46 billion for index funds. Active funds were positive in all four weeks, at $195 million, $310 million, $256 million and $325 million, for $1.09 billion across 21 funds.

Active's share of the net inflow rose from 1.1% in the week to Oct. 4 to 1.7% in the week to Oct. 18 and 3.3% this week. Most of that rise reflects slowing index inflows, from $16.93 billion to $14.78 billion to $9.46 billion over those three weeks, rather than a jump in active flows.

SOXX, MUB, EMXC, LQD and SGOV together took in $11.04 billion, just over half of the $21.37 billion gross inflow. SOXX took $5.34 billion, MUB $2.30 billion, EMXC $1.44 billion, LQD $1.30 billion and SGOV $659 million. IBIT was next at $630 million. SGOV, the 0-3 month Treasury fund with $116.8 billion in assets as of Oct. 23, has slowed for two weeks, from $1.84 billion in the week to Oct. 11 to $909 million and then $659 million.

Outflows were at least as concentrated. IWM (-$2.46 billion), IVV (-$2.02 billion), IGV (-$1.07 billion), HYG (-$590 million) and IWY (-$433 million) lost $6.57 billion combined, about 57% of the $11.59 billion gross outflow.

IWM, IVV and IGV, which together took in $6.02 billion over the prior three weeks, lost a combined $5.55 billion in the week to Oct. 25. IWM went from $4.88 billion of inflows over three weeks to a $2.46 billion outflow. IVV went from $285 million to -$2.02 billion, and IGV from $857 million to -$1.07 billion. SOXX moved the other way: it lost $3.07 billion over the prior three weeks ($1.46 billion, $512 million and $1.09 billion), then took in $5.34 billion. Semiconductors came in and software went out in the same week, which suggests a rotation inside technology rather than a broad move in the sector, though one week of flows does not establish a trend.

HYG's reversal has been more gradual. Its prior three-week total was a $1.64 billion inflow, but all of it came in the week to Oct. 4 ($2.31 billion). It has lost money in each of the three weeks since, deepening from $308 million to $362 million to $590 million, while LQD took in $1.30 billion this week. IWX, the Russell Top 200 Value fund, went from an average weekly outflow of $179 million over the prior three weeks to a $483 million inflow. The Russell Top 200 Growth fund IWY lost $433 million and the Russell 1000 Growth fund IWF lost $368 million.