ETF Asset Report of May: S&P 500 Tops
The month of May is cursed. Per an old adage, investors should “Sell in May and Go Away.” This May too wasn’t free from shockwaves thanks to rising rate worries due to a hawkish Fed. The Fed enacted a 50-bp rate hike in early May after a 25-bp hike in March.
This along with the Russia-Ukraine war and global growth concerns were the concerns in the month. The S&P-based SPY was down 0.6%, the Dow Jones based DIA retreated 0.2% and the Nasdaq-based QQQ declined more than 3.6% in the past one month (as of May 31, 2022).
For the most part of the month, the indexes were downbeat. Wall Street finally ended its seven-week losing streak last week. The S&P 500 recorded its best week since November 2020. All indexes were up more than 6% each last week, helping the month of May end on a decent mode.
Let’s take a look at the ETF asset report for the month.
S&P 500 Win
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO amassed about $7.39 billion, $5.11 billion and $3.59 billion in assets in May. Corrections in valuations probably led the S&P 500 to garner investors’ attention in the month (read: What You Need to Know About S&P 500 ETF Investing Right Now).
U.S. Short-Term Treasuries Back in Fashion
Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF BSV and SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF BIL added about $3.27 billion and $2.83 billion in assets, respectively last month. We believe cash and short-dated fixed income play a greater role in adding stability to a portfolio. This is especially true given that the Fed will keep on hiking rates this year and short-term bond yields will rise alongside.
Bank of America expects the Federal Reserve to raise U.S. interest rates to 3% by early next year from the current level of 0.75% to 1.0%, the WSJ article noted. That would result in a similar rate for cash-like assets such as money-market funds.
High-Yield Products Are Also in High Demand
iShares Core High Dividend ETF HDV (yields 3.09% annually) andiShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF HYG (4.41% annually) fetched in about $2.85 billion and $2.47 billion in May, respectively. High dividend is a great attraction for investors in the current edgy market.
Muni Bond ETFs Win
iShares National Muni Bond ETF MUB amassed about $3.88 billion in assets in the month. The underlying ICE AMT-Free US National Municipal Index of the fund measures the performance of the investment-grade segment of the U.S. municipal bond market & there were 8,274 issues in the index. The index includes municipal bonds from issuers that are primarily state or local governments or agencies such that the interest on the bond is exempt from U.S. federal income taxes.
Financials Redeemed Assets
Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF has seen $3.8 billion in assets flowing out of the fund. The flattening yield curve has led to this move. The benchmark U.S. treasury yield started the month with 2.99% while it ended the month on 2.85%. In early-May, the yield hit a high of 3.12%. On the other hand, the 6-month U.S. treasury bond yield started May at 1.49% and ended at 1.64%. This resulted in a flattening yield curve, which is a headwind for the financial stocks.
Dividend Aristocrats Out of Fashion
SPDR S&P Dividend ETF SDY, which measures the performance of the highest dividend-yielding S&P Composite 1500 Index constituents that have followed a managed-dividends policy of consistently increasing dividends every year for at least 20 consecutive years, lost about $2 billion in assets in May.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Invesco QQQ (QQQ): ETF Research Reports
SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports
iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG): ETF Research Reports
Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF): ETF Research Reports
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA): ETF Research Reports
SPDR S&P Dividend ETF (SDY): ETF Research Reports
iShares National Muni Bond ETF (MUB): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core High Dividend ETF (HDV): ETF Research Reports
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV): ETF Research Reports
SPDR Bloomberg 13 Month TBill ETF (BIL): ETF Research Reports
Vanguard ShortTerm Bond ETF (BSV): ETF Research Reports
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
