Big tech lovers and abstainers fuel record boom for Invesco ETFs

Invesco Ltd.’s ETF lineup absorbed a record amount of cash in 2024 from at least two classes of investors: those chasing AI-driven gains, and those shying away from big tech’s sway.

Nearly $86 billion flooded into Invesco’s US-listed ETFs last year, shattering the firm’s previous high-water mark of $54 billion set in 2021, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show. While the tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (ticker QQQ) lead the investment manager’s inflows with a $29 billion haul, the Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF (RSP) — which gives every stock the same heft in its portfolio — followed with a record $17 billion of annual inflows.

The parallel flows illustrate one of the stock market’s most urgent debates: whether to stick with the expensively valued megacap tech companies after a remarkable run, or position for a broadening out of the rally. Either answer has been a boon for Invesco’s lineup over the past year, vaulting the asset manager into third place for overall ETF flows in 2024. While the company is still a distant third behind giants Vanguard Group and BlackRock Inc. — which attracted $305 billion and $283 billion, respectively — it marks the first year since 2013 that Invesco has cracked the top three.

“Invesco really reminds me a lot of BlackRock. They have a really well-rounded lineup, it’s pretty well set up for any type of market,” said Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis. “But they are super dependent on QQQ, so that can turn on you fast.”

It’s a sign that Invesco’s efforts to broaden its lineup beyond QQQ is bearing fruit — to an extent. Invesco has an abnormally top-heavy portfolio, with QQQ — one of the oldest and largest ETFs at $325 billion in assets — making up the lion’s share of the firm’s overall $642 billion in US-listed ETF assets, BI-compiled data show.

With $86 billion, Invesco narrowly beat out State Street Global Advisors’s net inflow of $82 billion in 2024. While SSGA has made interesting moves as of late — including hiring Anna Paglia from Invesco, filing for a private credit ETF with Apollo and teaming up with Bridgewater Associates — it’s clear that the market environment favored Invesco in 2024, according to Vident Asset Management’s Amrita Nandakumar. 

“Invesco, in my mind, has always been quite innovative, they’ve been fast movers and they’re not afraid to compete on price,” Nandakumar said on Bloomberg Television’s ETF IQ. “They saw where the market was going and got there before the rest of the market did.”