ETF Assets Leap $47 billion in July

ETF assets grew $47.4 billion or 8% in July according to State Street Global Advisors. ETF assets now total $640 billion across 751 ETFs.

International ETFs saw the biggest growth in July, increasing $16.6 billion or 12.6%.  Inverse and leveraged ETFs was the only category that did not grow in July, declining $1.9 billion or 5.9%.

From a sector ETF perspective, Technology ETFs and REIT ETFs grew 21% and 19% respectively whileConsumer Staples ETFs (down 1%)  saw assets decline slightly.

According to the ETF Directory, the largest International ETF is the $34 billion MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA).  EFA tracks an equity benchmark for international stock performance that aims to capture 85% of the (publicly available) total market capitalization.  Top holdings include HSBCBP and Nestle.