Equities Shed Billions While Fixed Income Rallies

Issuer League Tables

The issuer league tables reveal significant divergence in capital flows across major brands for the single trading day. Vanguard secured the leading position with absolute one-day inflows of $875M, pushing its total assets under management to $3,993.40B. Conversely, SPDR faced the most substantial absolute daily outflows, experiencing a reduction of $4,852M on the day. Relative to their asset bases, smaller issuers such as Pictet and Portfolio Building Block saw the largest percentage inflows at 36.16% and 24.18%, respectively. The Brinsmere Funds registered the sharpest relative decline, with one-day outflows representing 41.74% of their total AUM.

Issuer Flows (Absolute)

Issuer Flows (Relative to AUM)

Daily ETF Flow Analysis

Aggregate asset class flows demonstrated a clear bifurcation between equity and fixed income allocations. U.S. listed ETFs observed collective net outflows of $5,445M for the day, driven predominantly by $6,414M in equity asset class withdrawals. Fixed income and non-traditional asset classes ran counter to this trend, accumulating $1,380M and $689M in daily inflows, respectively. At the category level, Fixed Income: Taxable – Government Ultrashort led all groups with $1,499M in fresh capital, while Equity: U.S. Large Cap – Blend registered the largest decline at $2,266M in single-day outflows.

Asset Class Flows

Top / Bottom 10 Category Flows

U.S. Size & Style

Within the U.S. Size & Style landscape, large-cap blend strategies experienced the heaviest asset reductions. SPY posted the market’s largest individual fund outflow for the day, shedding $2,388M. Despite the broader category outflows, VOO bucked the trend to attract $617M, leading all U.S. size and style peers. Additional inflows materialized in VTI and ITOT, which gained $226M and $176M, respectively. Meanwhile, small-cap blend exposure faced headwinds, evidenced by IWM recording outflows of $1,669M.

Size & Style ex-U.S.

International equity flows were heavily concentrated in broad developed market strategies. SCHF and IEFA emerged as the primary beneficiaries, capturing $308M and $220M in single-day net new assets. Global dividend strategies also saw modest traction, with SDIV adding $56M. Minimum volatility international exposure faced reductions, as EFAV led the laggards list with $73M in daily withdrawals. Outflows in this segment remained relatively muted overall, with the remaining bottom performers such as QINT and CGDG seeing outflows of $26M and $19M, respectively.

Sector & Industry

Sector-specific allocations highlighted diverging asset movements across major cyclical and defensive areas. The energy sector observed notable daily accumulation, with XOP attracting $205M to lead the category. Conversely, financials and technology experienced acute outflows, highlighted by $739M exiting XLF and $590M leaving SMH. Semiconductor exposure showed mixed results, as SOXX gathered $162M against the broader technology category’s net withdrawals. The biotechnology segment also registered asset declines, with XBI seeing outflows of $353M for the trading session.

Region & Country

Regional allocations exhibited a distinct preference for European and specific Asian market exposures over broad emerging markets. IEUR dominated the inflows for the day, capturing $652M in net new assets. Japanese and South Korean equities also drew capital, with EWJ and EWY gathering $228M and $114M, respectively. Indian and broader Asia-Pacific allocations faced the heaviest redemptions, as INDA shed $214M and VPL lost $158M. The Chinese equity market experienced continued asset declines, with ASHR recording $123M in daily outflows.

Thematic

Thematic ETF flows reflected specialized asset repositioning across infrastructure and innovation categories. ITB led the segment with $74M in single-day inflows, signaling capital direction toward home construction. Additional thematic inflows targeted internet and precious metals miner exposures, with FDN and GDX taking in $62M and $36M. Disruptive technology themes faced the most significant daily outflows, led by an $87M reduction in ARKK. Copper and energy infrastructure themes also experienced asset bleed, with COPX and MLPX losing $60M and $29M, respectively.

Fixed Income

Fixed income flows demonstrated a pronounced gravitation toward short-duration government instruments. SGOV and SHV led the category’s inflows, securing $497M and $335M as investors favored ultrashort maturity profiles. Broad aggregate bond exposure maintained positive momentum, with AGG adding $260M to its asset base. In contrast, corporate credit strategies encountered substantial redemptions across both high-yield and investment-grade segments. USHY and VCIT posted the largest daily outflows in the asset class, shedding $444M and $267M.

Commodity

Commodity ETF flows featured an explicit divergence between energy accumulation and precious metals distribution. USO paced the category’s asset gathering, taking in $261M in a single session. Broad commodity strategy ETFs also registered positive activity, with PDBC and COMT pulling in $123M and $63M. Conversely, physically backed gold and silver products endured heavy asset reductions. GLD and GLDM led the aggregate category outflows, shedding $377M and $315M, followed closely by a $134M contraction in SLV.

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency asset flows were uniformly negative across the largest, established funds during the trading day. FBTC and IBIT recorded the most significant capital flight, losing $159M and $143M, respectively. Ethereum-focused products followed the same downward trajectory, evidenced by $68M exiting FETH. Minor inflows were visible only at the very bottom of the market segment, led by $2M directed into TSUI. Several alternative coin strategies, including XRPZ and XRPR, registered flat daily flows.

Non-Traditional

Non-traditional ETF strategies saw substantial flow activity driven by leveraged and income-generating products. SOXL led the category with $375M in daily inflows, demonstrating concentrated capital placement in leveraged semiconductor exposure. Inverse oil positioning and covered call equity strategies also gathered assets, with SCO and JEPI adding $220M and $103M. Inverse semiconductor exposure faced the opposite dynamic, as SOXS recorded $68M in net withdrawals. Alternative income funds like QYLD and leveraged technology tracking via TQQQ also sat among the primary laggards, losing $53M and $52M.

Recent Launches

The ETF launch environment remained active in early March, with ten new products entering the market within a five-day span. Digital asset and thematic equity exposures featured prominently among the latest debuts. SASS entered the market with the largest initial asset base among the cohort, launching with $70.00M in AUM. Additional specialized launches included USLN and BREE, which gathered $20.11M and $13.88M respectively in early trading. Several funds, such as AVOS, initiated trading with nominal or zero reported day-one assets.