ETF Assets Down 2.7% in August

September 16, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Assets in the exchange-traded funds (ETF) space fell $21.8 billion to $800 billion in August, down 2.7%, according to the latest data from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).

Declines in the size categories accounted for the majority of the total equity AUM drop, SSgA said. Large Cap assets fell $15.4 billion, followed by Small Cap, down $3.6 billion. All size and style categories declined in assets.

Meanwhile, the Fixed Income and Commodity categories rose $3.9 billion and $3.4 billion, respectively.  Year-to-date, areas with significant positive asset growth are Commodities: up $11 billion, Fixed Income: up $31.1 billion, and Dividend/Fundamental: up $4.4 billion. Eight of ten sectors fell for the month with Financials losing the most, down $1.2 billion. Utilities and Materials were up slightly in absolute terms.

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The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard, collectively snapping up approximately 84.3% of the U.S.-listed ETF market.

The top three ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], iShares Russell 2000 [IWM] and PowerShares QQQ [QQQQ]. The top three ETFs in terms of assets for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 [SPY], SPDR Gold Shares [GLD], and iShares MSCI Emerging Markets [EEM].

More information is at www.spdrs.com.

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