The appeal of U.S. equities remained in August despite all odds, as hopes of a tax reform emerged, barring occasional geopolitical jitters. Overall, the broader markets remained lukewarm, with the S&P 500-based ETF (SPY – Free Report) , Dow Jones-based ETF (DIA – Free Report) and Nasdaq 100-based (QQQ – Free Report) adding in the range of 0.1% to 1.8% in August (read: Top ETF Stories of August).

Same was the situation in the global market. A rising euro weighed on the Eurozone ETF to some extent. However, emerging market stocks and ETFs topped them all and stayed pretty steady in the month. Against this backdrop, let’s find out the top gainers and losers in terms of asset growth in August (source: etf.com).

U.S. Equities Held Their Head High

The S&P 500 was on radar as investors flocked to SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY – Free Report) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV – Free Report), PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQ – Free Report) and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA – Free Report) . The funds SPY, IVV, QQQ and DIA garnered respectively about $2.36 billion, $2.11 billion, $1.87 billion and $1.25 billion in assets in the month. This was a confirmation of solid investor confidence in U.S. equities.

Small-Caps Also in Investors’ Favor

Small-cap U.S. ETF iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM – Free Report) also gathered about $1.85 billion. Hopes of deregulation and tax cuts favored U.S. stocks. Also, at the end of the month, the Commerce Department released Q2 economic growth data of 3% compared with its earlier estimate of 2.6%.

This was the best GDP growth since first-quarter 2015 and gave a boost to the otherwise-reeling small-cap ETFs as pint-sized stocks are more domestically focused. Signs of uptick in the U.S. economy probably made investors look back at small-cap ETFs. The fund IWM attracted about $1.85 billion in the month (read: 3 Reasons to Dump Small-Cap ETFs Now).