2021 Is a Huge Year for ETF Investing

Vanguard's Top Spot

But Vanguard led other asset managers for asset flows in the first half of the year. Eight Vanguard ETFs, led by its S&P 500 ETF (VOO), collected a total $89.89 billion in assets, accounting for close to 20% of the $476 billion net inflows in ETFs during the first half of the year.

BlackRock's iShares followed with $33.17 billion, led by its iShares S&P 500 ETF, which collected $12.75 billion during the first half. State Street's SPY ETF, in contrast, had net outflows of $1.99 billion in the first half of the year, and iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) experienced $20.36 billion in outflows.

Among the exchange-traded products that ETFGI tracks — which include commodity pools and exchange-traded notes but not ETFs — the iShares Gold Trust (IAU) and SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) were among the top three funds attracting new net assets in June, but both saw large outflows during the first half of the year — $6.86 billion for GLD and $1.04 billion for IAU.

The outflows and inflows in gold ETFs most likely reflects the changing view of investors' inflation expectations. Gold is traditionally considered a hedge against rising inflation, which was not a concern during the first half of the year when the global economy was suffering from pandemic-induced shutdowns but has become a worry during the strong economic rebound.