This Day In Market History: The First ETF Debuts

Each day, Benzinga takes a look back at a notable market-related moment that happened on this date.

What Happened: On this day in 1993, the first exchange-traded fund, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, launched on the American Stock Exchange.

Where Was The Market: The S&P 500 closed at 436.11, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 3,256.80.

What Else Was Going On In The World: Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” topped charts for its ninth consecutive week, while Walt Disney Co DIS’s "Aladdin" began its fourth week as box office leader.

The ETF Is Born: After launching around $45 per share, more than 1 million shares of State Street’s Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipt traded on the fund’s first day. The SPY went on to become the highest volume ETF in history and the first of more than 1,400 ETFs traded on U.S. stock exchanges.

Now, 25 years later, the market continues to expand. From electric vehicles to blockchain to Christianity to Argentina, diverse securities baskets lend exposure to broad market themes and continue to attract record business and outgrow mutual funds.

ETFs saw record growth in 2017, with inflows topping $464 billion over the previous year’s $288 billion, according to State Street. Mutual funds saw just over $91 billion.

Global assets grew from $3.396 trillion to $4.569 trillion, according to ETFGI.

For more information on today’s still-growing ETF market, follow Benzinga’s ETF Professor.