ETF Asset Report of the Month of July
Wall Street was moderate in July, with SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY adding about 2.2%, SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust DIA adding about 0.1% and the Nasdaq-100-heavy ETF Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 QQQ adding about 2.4% over the past month.
There were monster earnings from Microsoft and Meta in July. Amazon beat on Q2 earnings and revenues, but weak Q3 guidance sparked a drop in shares. However, Apple shares gained on earnings.
U.S. Economy Giving Mixed Signals
After a surprise contraction in the first quarter, the U.S. economy rebounded strongly in the second quarter of 2025. According to the advance estimate of the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualized rate of 3% between April and June. This topped Bloomberg economists’ forecast of 2.6% growth.
But then, U.S. jobs data came in soft at the start of August. The July jobs report revealed that nonfarm payrolls rose by just 73,000, far below the 100,000-gain expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones.
The previous months saw sharp downward revisions, with June’s growth slashed to 14,000 from 147,000 and May’s lowered to 19,000 from 125,000, highlighting a more prolonged labor market slowdown than initially believed.
Euro Zone Growth Exceeds Expectations
Economic growth in the Eurozone outperformed expectations in the last quarter, despite global trade uncertainties. This resilience may lessen the need for additional interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank (ECB) (read: Euro Zone Growth Exceeds Expectations: ETFs in Focus).
Data from Eurostat revealed that GDP in the Euro zone rose by 0.1% sequentially. This modest growth beat forecasts, which showed no change. Strong performances from Spain, France and Ireland offset economic contractions in Germany and Italy.
U.S. New Home Sales Miss Expectations
Sales of new U.S. single-family homes rose marginally in June, as elevated mortgage rates hurt housing market activity. Sales increased by just 0.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 627,000 units, falling short of economists' expectations for 650,000 units, as polled by Reuters (read: U.S. New Home Sales Miss Expectations: ETFs in Focus).
ETF Asset Report
Against this backdrop, below we highlight the ETFs that gained and lost sizable assets in the month of July.
S&P 500 Top
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV and SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF SPLG hauled in $12.68 billion, $7.12 billion, $5.65 billion and $4.87 billion in assets, respectively.
Cryptocurrency Beat Many Other Asset Classes
iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF IBIT fetched about $5.31 billion in assets in the month. iShares Ethereum Trust ETF ETHA added about $4.34 billion in assets in the month due to a favorable regulatory backdrop.
Financials Gain on Upbeat Earnings
The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund XLF added about $3.15 billion in assets in the month. Financial ETFs gained on upbeat earnings.
International Markets Rock
Vanguard Total International Stock ETF VXUS and iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets ETF IEMG added about $2.44 billion and $2.35 billion, respectively, in the month.
Small-Caps Retreat
iShares Russell 2000 ETF IWM witnessed a retreat of about $3.7 billion in assets in the month. Due to the volatile economic backdrop, small caps have long been strolling. Vanguard Small Cap ETF VB has lost about $126 billion.
Corporate Bonds Underperform
iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF LQD and Vanguard Long-Term Corporate Bond ETF VCLT lost about $3.92 billion in assets and $3.20 billion in assets in the month of July.
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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