ETF Assets Decline by $9.41 Billion

April 2, 2008

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) - According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the combined assets of U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs) declined by $9.41 billion to $559.31 billion in February.

This is a 1.7 percent decrease compared to January and an increase of 29.1 percent or $125.91 billion compared to February 2007 when ETF assets were $433.40 billion.

The bulk of money invested in ETFs is linked to equity indexes, which have been caught in an undertow of bad economic news.

The SPDRs S&P 500 (Ticker: SPY) accounts for roughly 12 percent of all U.S. ETF assets and is down 6.6 percent through April 1st. 

During February, the value of all ETF shares redeemed exceeded that of shares issued by $6.93 billion and ETF net issuance was $4.99 billion.

ETFs are an emerging class of low cost index funds that trade like stocks. They cover the broad asset class universe including domestic stocks, international and emerging markets stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies.

The Investment Company Institute (ICI) is a national association of U.S. registered investment companies.