Vanguard, iShares dominate ETFs in April

If you're an ETF provider, you'd probably like to have one of your products be on the list of the 10 highest asset flows for the year. Good luck with that. So far this year, Vanguard and iShares are the only ETF producers on the list of the 20 top sellers this year. All told, the two companies have seen an estimated $70.3 billion in new money, according to Morningstar, with iShares accounting for $41.9 billion. In an industry with about 600 providers, the dominance of iShares and Vanguard is striking. As of the end of March, iShares had 38.6% of the ETF market share, with $1.1 trillion in assets; Vanguard had 24.3% of the industry market share, with $681 billion. State Street, producers of SPDR products, came in third with a 19.1% market share and $537 billion in assets. All other providers were scrapping for the remaining 18% of the industry. The biggest gainer: iShares Core S&P 500 (IVV), with $9 billion in estimated net new cash. iShares Core MSCI Emerging markets (IEMG) and iShares Core MSCI (IEFA) take up second and third place, with $7.3 billion and $6.2 billion in fresh cash, respectively. International stocks have surged this month on the heels of the French election: The MSCI Europe, Australia and Far East index has jumped 1.8%, versus 0.59% for the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index. This year, EAFE has gained 8.4%, versus 6.7% for the S&P 500.

Wow, literally every single one of the Top 20 ETFs in YTD flows is iShares or Vanguard, never saw that bf (note: there are 60+ ETF issuers) pic.twitter.com/NmK1Fz7Hf4

— Eric Balchunas (@EricBalchunas) April 22, 2017

Notably absent: The $229.7 billion SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which saw $5.3 billion flee through April 21, according to Morningstar. "The fund has had outflows in April as some of the exuberance of the Trump trade waned," said Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR America research. "After the election, the fund took in $8 billion over a few months, and we've seen some of that money leave." Other funds that have watched money head for the exits: iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), which saw $2.9 billion in net outflows, and First Trust Energy Alphadex ETF (FXN), down about $1 billion. Monthly flows can be extremely volatile, however, and can often change radically — even week to week.

Name	Ticker	YTD Flows
iShares Core S&P 500	IVV	$9.01B
iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets	IEMG	$7.30B
iShares Core MSCI EAFE	IEFA	$6.17B
Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF	VEA	$5.46B
Vanguard 500 ETF	VOO	$4.81B
iShares MSCI EAFE	EFA	$3.63B
iShares iBoxx $ Invst Grade Crp Bond	LQD	$3.46B
iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap	IJH	$3.26B
Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF	VTI	$3.21B
Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF	VWO	$3.15B
Vanguard Interm-Term Corp Bd ETF	VCIT	$3.12B
iShares Core S&P Small-Cap	IJR	$3.09B
Vanguard Short-Term Corporate Bond ETF	VCSH	$2.47B
Vanguard Value ETF	VTV	$2.45B
iShares JPMorgan USD Emerg Markets Bond	EMB	$2.29B
iShares Core US Aggregate Bond	AGG	$2.01B
Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF	BSV	$1.92B
Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF	BND	$1.79B
iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Mkt	ITOT	$1.65B
SPDR® Gold Shares	GLD	$1.55B
Vanguard Interm-Term Bond ETF	BIV	$1.51B
iShares MSCI Eurozone	EZU	$1.48B
Technology Select Sector SPDR® ETF	XLK	$1.45B
Schwab International Equity ETF™	SCHF	$1.41B
iShares Floating Rate Bond	FLOT	$1.39B