ETF Assets Decline $6.46 Billion

November 7, 2008

SAN DIEGO (ETFguide.com) - According to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the combined assets of U.S. exchange-traded funds fell by $6.46 billion to $579.51 billion in September.

This is a 1.1% decrease compared to last month and an increase of 5.2% or $28.41 billion compared to September 2007, when ETF assets were $551.10 billion.

During September, the value of all ETF shares issued exceeded that of shares redeemed by $52.06 billion. In September 2007, ETFs have experienced a net issuance of $20.55 billion.

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A handful of ETFs dominate the business in terms of assets and trading volume.

At the end of October, the top ETFs in terms of assets under management were the SPDRs (AMEX: SPY) with $79 billion, the iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (NYSEArca: EFA) with $26.35 billion, and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca: EEM) with $17.95 billion.

ETFs are low cost index funds that trade like stocks. They can be bought and held, sold short, or leveraged with margin. Currently, there are 716 U.S. listed ETFs.

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