April ETF Asset Report: VOO & Short-Term Bonds Lead Gains

April was a challenging month for Wall Street due to heightened trade tensions. The S&P 500 lost 0.4%, the Dow Jones retreated 2.5%, while the Nasdaq was up by 0.8% (as of April 29, 2025).

Analysts warned about the U.S. economic slowdown or recessions and renewed inflation risks. Meanwhile, the Fed rhetoric was not quite dovish. Investors started losing hope on American assets (U.S. bonds, currency and stocks). Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund UUP has retreated 4.3% over the past month (as of April 29, 2025).

Against this backdrop, below we highlight a few exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that fetched sizable assets in the month of April and also highlight some that failed in the month.

S&P 500 (VOO) Tops the List

Vanguard 500 Index Fund VOO, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF VTI and SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF SPLG hauled in $18.8 billion, $5.21 billion and $3.59 billion in assets, respectively. However, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY witnessed outflows of $12.9 billion and $4.17 billion.

Short-Term U.S. Treasuries Gain Traction

SPDR Bloomberg 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF BIL added about $7.14 billion in assets. iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF SGOV and Vanguard Short-Term Bond ETF BSV amassed $5.51 billion and $3.77 billion, respectively. The trio yields 4.76%, 4.79% and 3.49%, respectively, annually. BIL charges 14 bps in fees while SGOV and BSV charge 9 bps and 3 bps in fees, respectively.

Ultra-short-term bonds help investors keep aside money for a couple of weeks to a few months with almost no risk.In times of market downturns, these can act as a hedge, protecting the portfolio from significant losses.

Instead of keeping excess cash idle in a low-yield bank account, investing in a cash-like ETF can enhance returns while maintaining liquidity. Moreover, BIL, BSV and SGOV are offering hefty current income at the current level. Both carry lower default and interest rate risks.

Semiconductors: Not Far Behind

Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares ETF SOXL fetched about $3.22 billion in assets. Tech stocks drove a strong market rally last week, with Tesla, NVIDIA, and Alphabet leading the gains. This happened due to hints of trade de-escalation.

Meanwhile, the artificial intelligence (AI) boom is here to stay. Cryptocurrency summer has arrived thanks to Trump’s fascination with it. AI and crypto mining both rely heavily on semiconductors (read: Inside Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of Last Week).

Along with SOXL, other tech-heavy ETFs like Invesco NASDAQ 100 ETF QQQM have also gained assets past month.

Bitcoin Sizzled Too

iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF IBIT added $2.24 billion in assets past month. After all, Bitcoin staged a solid non-correlation with the stock market in the recent tariff turmoil. IBIT ETF has gained 15.8% past month (as of April 29, 2025) while SPY is off about 1% (read: Q2 Bitcoin ETF Outlook: Is It a Safer Exposure?).

Small Caps Among the Losers

iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM lost $4.48 billion in assets. Small caps have been under pressure due to fears of renewed inflation and funding crunch.

U.S. Long-Term Treasury Out of Favor

iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF TLT saw $3.02 billion in assets gushing out of the fund. The TLT ETF has lost 0.9% past month (as of April 29, 2025), although it had a very bad start to April. Long-term Treasury yields skyrocketed in mid-April. Fears of China's treasury selling, inflation risks, a less-dovish Fed & basis trade unwind hit bond market (read: ETFs to Play Amid Long-Term Yields' Best Week Since 1982).           

Energy Sector Bleeds

The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund XLE has shed about $2.45 billion in assets as fears of a demand drop weighed on energy prices (read: Oil's Worst Month Since 2021: Will Energy ETFs Rebound?).

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