U.S. ETF Industry up 5.5% for 2011

According to the State Street Global Advisors (SSga) ETF Snapshot report, The Large Cap category had the most significant inflows in December with $11.4 billion entering the category. The Fixed Income category continued to see positive inflows attracting $6.1 billion in December, and $44.7 billion year-to-date.

The S&P 500 Index gained 1.0% while the MSCI EAFE Index fell 0.9%. Commodities were negative, with the S&P GSCI Index down 2.1% and Gold falling 12.3%. U.S. Bonds were positive with the Barclays U.S. Treasury Index up 1.0% and the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Index up 1.1%.

The top three managers in the U.S. ETF marketplace were: BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. Collectively, they account for approximately 83% of the U.S. listed ETF market.

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

International – Developed and Emerging Markets dropped 0.9% and 1.2%, respectively. Domestic Large Cap and Small Cap markets gained 1.0% and 1.3%, while Mid Cap dipped 0.4%. The U.S. Aggregate, the U.S. Treasury and the U.S. Corporate Bond markets were all positive in December. Commodities fell 2.1%.