ETF industry assets fell $97 billion or 16.7% in October, in line with the 16.7% decline in the S&P 500 for the month.
State Street Global Advisor’s Snapshot Report for October 2008 reports that every asset class declined in October including domestic and international equities, bonds and gold. The MSCI EAFE index, a measure of international equities, fell 20.2% in dollar terms while the bond benchmark Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Index fell 2.36%.
Of note is the fact that average Daily Volume rose to $134 billion in October, up from $123 billion in September and 112.7% greater than October 2007.
The top three US ETFs in terms of dollar volume traded for the month were the SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), theNASDAQ 100 PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), and the iShares Russell 2000 (IWM).
Share volume for SPY has tripled since December 2007 while dollar volume has doubled according to the report.