Exchange-traded funds tracking areas that lagged megacap US stocks—such as small caps, international, value and cannabis—are among the 24 ETFs that Bloomberg Intelligence says represent themes that could drive the market in 2024. Other big themes include the mini-boom in active and the race for the first spot Bitcoin ETF.  On this episode, Eric and Joel take a tour of BI’s list of ETFs to watch for the year ahead. They’re joined by BI’s James Seyffart and Athanasios Psarofagis to go through...

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is busier than Santa’s elves these days as it scrambles to work with exchange-traded fund issuers to fine-tune offering documents ahead of the likely approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs. While this ten year-long saga seems to be nearing an end, approving them will create a whole new world of products—and regulation. On this episode, Joel Weber, Eric Balchunas and Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld speak with SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce in front of an...

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After more than a decade-long wait, it’s looking likely that the first-ever spot Bitcoin ETFs will soon arrive in the US. But despite the heated race just to get off the start line, SEC approval is actually just when the story begins. Who among the dozen issuers who have filed so far will even make it off the blocks? How will the ETFs differentiate themselves? Who exactly are the prospective investors? On this episod, Eric and Joel speak with ARK founder Cathie Wood and 21 Shares’ co-founder...

When it comes to evaluating companies for different exchange-traded fund strategies, some things can be easily measured—such as dividends and price-to-earnings ratios. Others are harder to gauge. This so-called dark matter of the stock market universe includes thinks like a company's brand power, human capital and intellectual property. The latter is something called “intangible value.” And now there’s an ETF for that, too. On this episode, Joel and Eric speak with Kai Wu, founder and chief...

At Bloomberg, we’re always talking about the biggest business stories, and no one is bigger than Elon Musk. In this new chat weekly show, host David Papadopoulos and a panel of guests including Businessweek’s Max Chafkin, Tesla reporter Dana Hull, Big Tech editor Sarah Frier, and more, will break down the most important stories on Musk and his empire. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ESG seems to have went from all the rage to yesterday's news as ETFs tracking these strategies have been hit with big stretches of underperformance and outflows while media interest has waned. What happened? And where does it go from here?  On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric discuss and debate this with Rob Du Boff and Shaheen Contractor, ESG analysts for Bloomberg Intelligence as well as hosts of a new ESG podcast called ESG Currents. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

More than 1,000 ETFs have been liquidated and sent to the proverbial ETF graveyard. But a select few have been resurrected by issuers who think that either the time is right for the idea or they have the ways and means to make it work.  On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel speak with Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence about his "Lazarus List"—ETFs that have failed, sometimes at inopportune moments, only to later get another chance. The list includes target-date ETFs as...

How much does the average person know about ETFs? What about an ETF analyst? On this episode of Trillions we put the experts knowledge to the test in our first ever ETF trivia game featuring two competitive teams made up of Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF research at VettaFi, Lara Crigger, Editor-in-Chief of VettaFi, Katie Greifeld of Bloomberg News and Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence. Questions range across asset classes and historical periods and the winning team gets a free...

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest recently purchased European exchange-traded fund issuer Rize. The move shows yet another US-based issuer bringing their talents to Europe, a market that while only a fraction the size of the US is growing quickly.  On this episode of Trillions we talk to Hector McNeil, Co-Chief Executive Officer of HANetf and a veteran of the European ETF market. We discuss how Europe remains behind the US in some ways, but ahead in others. We also analyze how portfolios are changing...

India just hosted the G-20. Some of Apple’s latest iPhones are now being made there. The country’s demographics are compelling. And yet, as Hindenberg Research’s short of the Adani Group showed earlier this year, this emerging market is perhaps not without significant risk. On this episode, Eric and Joel, along with Rebecca Sin of Bloomberg Intelligence, speak with Kevin Carter of EMQQ Global, whose India Internet and e-commerce ETF ($INQQ) is attempting to capture the country’s boom. They...

The death of mutual funds has been greatly exaggerated. With $24 trillion in assets, they outmatch exchange-traded funds two to one. And there’s good reason to keep tabs on them as well—especially because of what they reveal about active management.  On this episode of Trillions, Eric and Joel speak with new Bloomberg Intelligence mutual fund analyst David Cohne. He’s already made some fascinating discoveries deep inside the world of mutual funds—including who beat QQQ, one fund's unusual...

Invesco’s QQQ Trust Series 1, aka QQQ, is synonymous with tech investing—and performance, given that it’s nearly doubled the S&P 500 over the last decade. But because the almost $200 billion exchange-traded fund was created as a unit investment trust, it hasn’t made any money for Invesco, which acquired it in the 2006 acquisition of PowerShares. What’s Invesco doing about that? Launching money-making spinoffs, of course. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber discuss...

It sounds too good to be true. An exchange-traded fund that is 100% protected from any losses but still gets to participate in stock market gains? While there is a catch and a trade-off involved, that is pretty much what the Innovator Equity Defined Protection ETF—2 Yr to July 2025 (TJUL) sets out to do in a strategy using options. On this episode of Trillions we speak to the masterminds behind this new ETF, Innovator Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Bruce Bond and Chief Investment...

It’s the third quarter and exchange-traded fund investors have finally gotten their FOMO bug back. While they’re currently plowing money into equities, how long can the good times last? This is just one of many trends to watch in the second half.  On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Athanasios Psarofagis, a Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst, about five big stories to watch in the third and fourth quarters of 2023. These include the Bitcoin ETF race, the...

Over the past decade, about 30 spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund applications have been swatted aside by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The outlook appeared dire. And then a surprise filing by BlackRock Inc. in mid-June seemed to change the mood. A rush of new applications and amendments to existing proposals soon followed. And Ophelia Snyder—co-founder and president of 21Shares, who had re-filed a spot Bitcoin ETF application with ARK Invest in April—was in the mix again. On...

Dalia Blass has a rare perspective on the exchange-traded fund industry. Now a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, she recently left BlackRock, where she was head of external affairs. Before that, Blass did multiple tours of duty with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, most recently as the director of investment management.  On this episode of Trillions, Blass joins Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber to discuss the regulator’s role in innovation, funds and regulation; the politicization of...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve likely heard about how Artificial Intelligence is going to be a big deal. The exchange-traded fund industry is as excited as any other, and has launched a slew of funds dedicated to either using AI or investing in AI companies. But will this shiny new object be the monumental shift some predict it will be?  On this episode, we chat with Dave Mazza, chief strategy officer for Roundhill, and Rebecca Sin, an ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence...

The S&P 500 Index is up 9%, the Nasdaq 100 has jumped 25% and Bitcoin-mining stocks are up more than 100%—and yet no one seems to care. At least that’s the case among exchange-traded fund investors who have put virtually no money into US equities. It’s what we’re calling the FOMO drought. What’s behind this odd phenomenon, and what can end it? Joel and Eric sit down with Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Athanasios Psarofagis to discuss several spots in the flows, such as international,...

Exchange-traded funds could go from $9 trillion in global assets today to $30 trillion in the next decade as investors far and wide continue to migrate from mutual funds. This is the prediction that Brown Brothers Harriman reached in their 10th Annual ETF Survey last month.   On this episode, Joel and Eric speak with Shawn McNinch, Global ETF Head at BBH, to pore over the survey, including questions on how ETFs are selected, what areas investors want to see more products covering and the...

The hottest new trade is the most boring asset class: money market mutual funds. Once regarded as a no-yield option investors would only use to park cash in a crisis, they now yield more than 4.5%. In the first quarter alone, investors flocked to them to the tune of half a trillion dollars. But how do they work? What do they invest in? And why do investors use them instead of similar-yielding, cheaper Treasury exchange-traded funds? We answer all these questions and more on the latest...

The first exchange-traded fund television show ever created, Bloomberg’s ETF IQ, just finished its first year on the air. On this episode, we talk to its anchors, Matt Miller and Katie Greifeld, about what goes into making the program, some of its highlights and recurring themes. These include the resurgence of active management, ESG’s struggles, investing amid rising interest rates and the wild world of indie issuers.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UBS recently acquired its troubled neighbor, Credit Suisse, creating a Swiss megabank. How it all went down led to an avalanche of headlines, with a few interesting angles for investors in things such as exchange-traded notes and CoCo bonds.  On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber discuss some of the takeaways with Alison Williams, a senior analyst who covers investment banks and the asset management industry for Bloomberg Intelligence, as well as ETF analyst Athanasios...

In barely a week, three banks a lot of people had never heard of—Silvergate, Silicon Valley and Signature—suddenly became toast. The US government found itself playing backstop to prevent an escalation as whipsawed investors hoped the worst was over. But is it? And in what kind of funds can these banks stocks be found? How will they affect performance? Hint: It would have been a good week to short some of Jim Cramer’s top picks.  On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with reporter Katie...

Jim Cramer—the host of Mad Money on CNBC—makes a lot of investing calls. It’s part of his shtick. And as you can easily divine from social media, not all of them pan out. The new Inverse Cramer Tracker ETF (SJIM), which might be one of the most entertaining exchange-traded funds ever imagined, is aiming to turn Cramer’s “Midas touch” into big returns by shorting stocks he’s bullish on. It also goes long on Cramer’s bearish bets. For good measure, there’s also a Long Cramer Tracker ETF...