ETF investors poured money into international equities, those focused on the emerging markets in particular, in the week ended June 21, in what appeared to be  a partial return to riskier assets at the expense of U.S. stocks funds.

The Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (NYSEArca: VWO) and the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund (NYSEArca: EEM) – the reigning titans in the emerging markets space – were some of the most popular funds last week, gathering $582.9 million and $226.0 million, respectively.

The demand for international equities came at a time when the U.S. stock market bounced around with volatility in a reflection of still-developing concern about U.S. growth in the face of Europe’s crushing debt burdens and slowing growth in China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the five trading days ended June 21 78.34 points lower, after suffering a 250-point decline on the final day of that period.

International equity ETFs attracted nearly $1.3 billion in assets, helping offset the $182.8 million outflow from U.S. equities funds. Total U.S. ETF assets in the week of June 14 through June 21 fell to $1.158 trillion from $1.160 billion seven days earlier. The asset total included market movement.

Mixed Picture

Still, the appetite for risk wasn’t for everyone, and demand for safety assets was just as prevalent, brining into focus how nervous investors are about what course of action to take going forward in a mixed and uncertain market environment.

For example, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) – the world’s largest gold bullion-based fund – and the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Fund (NYSEArca: SPLV) were among the most popular funds last week.

Investors poured $219.5 million into GLD on the week, and $374 million into SPLV – briefly making SPLV a more than $2 billion fund.

Fixed income, as an asset class, was also popular, with U.S. bond funds raking in more than $484 million of new assets.

But funds like the iShares Barclays 1-3 Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: SHY) and the iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: TLT) saw redemptions last week.

SHY bled $295.4 million, or around 2.6 percent of its assets, while TLT gave up $189.2 million, or nearly 5 percent of its total assets. TLT had $3.73 billion as of June 21, according to data compiled by IndexUniverse.

Top 10 Creations (All ETFs)

Top 10 Redemptions (All ETFs)

ETF Weekly Daily Flows By Asset Class

Top 10 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 10 YTD Performers

Bottom 10 YTD Performers

Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.