News that a Pfizer (PFE Quick QuotePFE - Free Report) and BioNTech (BNTX) vaccine candidate was more than 90% effective in avoiding COVID-19 in its clinical trial instigated a sharp market rally at the start of last week. Not only this, the news infused $44.5 billion into the stock market last week – its biggest weekly inflow ever, per BofA, as quoted on MarketWatch. About $38.7 billion entered into ETFs while $5.7 billion rushed toward mutual funds.

Against this backdrop, below we highlight asset inflows from Nov 9 to Nov 12 for the ETFs (per etf.com).

Global Stocks Emerge Winners

As there was a sharp stock market rally, global stocks gathered considerable assets last week. SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY Quick QuoteSPY - Free Report) , Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI Quick QuoteVTI - Free Report) andVanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS) added about $13.19 billion, $580.6 million, $1.73 billion and $919.4 million in assets, respectively.

Since small-cap stocks are more closely tied to the domestic economy, the latest hopes of a vaccine bode the best for the segment. The small-cap Russell 2000 logged a new record-high close for the first time since August 2018, per etf.com. No wonder, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM Quick QuoteIWM - Free Report) raked in about $1.56 billion in assets.

High-Yielding Bonds Win Too

Bonds that yield higher also gained last week as Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) added about $805.9 million and iShares iBoxx USD High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG Quick QuoteHYG - Free Report) amassed about $737.4 million in assets, respectively.

Economically Sensitive Sectors Gain

Economically sensitive sectors like financials and industrials gained last week as a part of the reflation trade. Risk-on trade sentiments boosted the long-term treasury yields too. This was beneficial for banking stocks’ net interest rate margins. Asa result, Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF Quick QuoteXLF - Free Report) fetched about $609.6 million in the week. Moreover, Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) hauled in about $696.6 million in the week in hopes of stronger economic activity.

Investors Shower Love on Value Stocks

There was a shift from growth stocks to value stocks, which means that investors are wagering on increased inflation and higher rates. As value stocks perform better in a rising rate environment, the group started receiving investors’ attention. iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD Quick QuoteIWD - Free Report) added about $591.3 million in assets last week.

Nasdaq Underperforms

The tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 ETF Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ Quick QuoteQQQ - Free Report) lost about $2.13 billion in assets as vaccine news dulled the demand for the winning sector of the pandemic — technology. iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV Quick QuoteIGV - Free Report) has also shed about $257.2 million in assets.

Safe Assets Lost Its Glitter

Gold bullion fund SPDR Gold Trust (GLD Quick QuoteGLD - Free Report) lost about $1.27 billion in assets asinvestors dumped safe-haven assets. Apart from gold bullion, other safe sectors and assets lost assets too. U.S. treasury ETFs like iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF Quick QuoteIEF - Free Report) , iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and iShares Short Treasury Bond ETF (SHV) lost about $588.8 million, 363.2 million and $320.9 million in assets, respectively. Safe sector ETF Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) also saw about $491.6 million in assets gushing out of the fund.

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