Analyst/ETF Trader Paul Weisbruch of Street One Financial brings us his daily fund flows update, which today looks at unabated inflows into both large cap and small cap equities on the final day of August.
The dip-buying momentum has not abated in the past couple sessions, accompanied and perhaps even preceded by larger inflows as we mentioned in two of the largest Equity Index ETFs, SPY and IWM.
Each fund has taken in over $6 billion and over $2.2 billion respectively during this last-minute surge higher in August and now the SPX is comfortably above its 50-day MA for the first time since the middle of the month.
ETF/Index options trading has been uneventful today thus far, as we are only witnessing what appears to be portfolio managers re-adjusting their hedges thanks to the latest run higher in equities. For example, in IWM we have seen some September put selling of lower, well out of the money strikes in order to purchase higher strike puts, perhaps signaling that managers are enjoying this little rally in equities but do not want to become too comfortable, given the recent global tensions and headline risks that have smacked markets at times.
This situation certainly bears monitoring as we head into September.
The iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF was trading at $139.73 per share on Thursday afternoon, up $1.36 (+0.98%). Year-to-date, IWM has gained 4.37%, versus a 11.54% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
IWM currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of B (Buy), and is ranked #6 of 36 ETFs in the Small Cap Blend ETFs category.