First Trust, the sixth-largest issuer of US exchange-traded funds, has managed to stay mostly under the radar in the investing world — and yet it's also perfected a lucrative, Vanguard-proof business model. The company's products are directed more at financial advisors than the retail world, and their funds, most of which are actively managed, have higher fees than typical index-tracking ETFs. Enter the First Trust sales force, which wields steak dinners, personal coaching, sports tickets ...
Mar 13, 2025•23 min
European stocks are off to a strong start this year—one of their best ever in fact and easily beating the US market. But can it last? Will US tech stocks come roaring back again? And are there any reasons to invest in Europe besides stocks there just being “cheap?” On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Gina Martin Adams, Bloomberg Intelligence’s chief equity strategist, and Todd Sohn, senior exchange-traded fund and technical strategist a...
Feb 26, 2025•26 min
There’s something special about the US stock market these days—it’s almost beyond comprehension how it keeps kicking out consistently big returns. Sure, other markets have nice runs now and again, but they’re usually short-lived and almost microscopic compared to the US. Why is that? And how long can this level of dominance last? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Steve Hou, a quantitative researcher at Bloomberg Indices, who’s w...
Feb 13, 2025•27 min
Municipal bonds are the foundation of how American cities and states operate. And a big reason investors love “munis” is their tax-free status. But if you think that makes muni exchange-traded funds sound boring, think again. On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Eric Kazatsky, head of municipal strategy at Bloomberg Intelligence and co-host of the podcast Masters of the Muniverse . They discuss the storied history of munis, how they figure into portfolios—and how that favo...
Jan 30, 2025•22 min
Will the first private credit exchange-traded fund launch in 2025? How many new crypto-related ETFs will come to market this year? And how will the battle of the S&P 500 funds shake out? Will BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF cut fees in an effort to stop Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF from passing State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF in assets? On this episode of Trillions , the discussion leaves no stone unturned. Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber—alo...
Jan 15, 2025•31 min
Gold or Bitcoin? The answer to that question—as always—depends on whom you ask. Yet the response will regularly be a passionate one. The exchange-traded fund has played an enormous role in making both assets more accessible, part of the reason 2024 was such a banner year. With the debut of spot Bitcoin ETFs and Donald Trump’s election (given his embrace cryptocurrency during the campaign), we now look to what the new year means for both. On this episode of Trillions , recorded ...
Dec 30, 2024•28 min
It's pretty safe to say that 2024 was the best year ever for ETFs. The industry saw record flows of $1 trillion, a record 670 new launches and a 30% jump in assets- not to mention that record smashing bitcoin ETF launch. So how do you top that? On this episode of Trillions Joel and Eric host a roundtable discussion on highlights from 2024 as well as predictions for 2025 with Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, Vildana Hajric, reporter with Bloomberg News and Athanasios Psarofagis, ETF ...
Dec 19, 2024•36 min
US large cap stocks have had an unbelievable run, and this year has been no exception. But how much longer can this Magnificent 7-driven winning streak really last? What kind of moves should investors consider making? And which products should they use? ETF strategists ponder questions just like this, and they're experts at figuring out how to meet the moment — or realize an idea — with the right product. On this episode of Trillions , Joel and Eric speak with John Davi, CEO of Astoria Portfolio...
Dec 05, 2024•36 min
“The House That Jack Bogle Built” is alive and well in sleepy Malvern, Pennsylvania. So far this year, the asset management firm that pioneered low-cost investing—so much so that “beta” is almost free now—has hoovered up another $256 billion of inflows into its US exchange-traded funds. But as the company nears its 50th anniversary, can it continue to succeed without changing its tried-and-true ways? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Vanguard’s Janel Jackson...
Nov 21, 2024•33 min
One of the year’s hottest investments? Bitcoin, which has surged on exchange-traded fund adoption as well as the return of the “Trump trade.” One way to go especially big on that bet is two new leveraged ETFs: MSTX and MSTU, which are 2X MicroStrategy—a company that’s already a highly exposed Bitcoin proxy. Both ETFs effectively give investors a 4X exposure to Bitcoin. If that sounds volatile, it is: MSTX is the most volatile ETF in the US. Consider this space the “ghost pepper” of hot sauces. O...
Nov 07, 2024•33 min
As with humans, death is a part of life in the exchange-traded fund industry. There have been about 150 closures this year, which may be a bit surprising given how almost everything is up in the markets. So what’s behind this year’s class of liquidated ETFs? And what does it mean for investors? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber dig into the stories and answer the “why” behind some of the closures in 2024. On hand to assist is Vildana Hajric, a cross-asset reporter for ...
Oct 24, 2024•35 min
Derivatives-enhanced exchange-traded funds have become a hit with retail investors. There’s been more than 160 such launches so far this year, with monikers such as “laddered buffer” and “covered call,” and they’ve attracted $50 billion and counting. While many of the products were designed to protect from downturns, some include options that can generate cash, which comes back to investors in the form of dividends. (Did someone say “yields”?) On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Jo...
Oct 10, 2024•29 min
A new competition has begun to see who can successfully solve an investing paradox: how to package illiquid, private assets into liquid, public exchange-traded funds. State Street, in partnership with Apollo, officially kicked off this race with a recent filing. If approved, their offering would make one of Wall Street's fastest-growing corners—private credit—open to a much wider world than just institutional investors. On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Vild...
Sep 26, 2024•22 min
For every stock that enters an index like the S&P 500 or Russell 1000, another must exit. One might assume these “deletions” are a sorrowful bunch whose demotion to the B-team means they’re no longer worthy of your portfolio. Yet Rob Arnott, founder of Research Affiliates and a longtime champion of “smart beta,” discovered that many of these rejects tend to perform better after being dropped from the indexes. On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Arnott about his new exchange-traded fund...
Sep 11, 2024•30 min
The idea of using leverage to layer one investment return, say equities, on top of another, say a managed futures strategy, is something institutional investors have been doing for decades under the term “portable alpha.” Now a suite of young, fast-growing exchange-traded funds have come along—they’re called “return stacking” ETFs—and they’re offering such layering to the masses. On this episode , Joel and Eric speak with Corey Hoffstein, chief executive and chief information officer of Newfound...
Aug 29, 2024•28 min
While exchange-traded funds have become increasingly popular and people are more familiar with them, there are still aspects of ETFs that—for some—remain shrouded in mystery. So we recently asked our followers on social media to send us any ETF questions they may have or topics they were curious about. We received a ton of responses. On this episode of Trillions , Joel Weber and Eric Balchunas answer about 20 of these questions—ranging from whether ETFs will be in 401(k) plans someday to how ove...
Aug 15, 2024•29 min
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, which were finally introduced earlier this year after intense regulatory scrutiny, have already become some of the most successful ETF launches ever. For months it seemed that spot ETFs for Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, might linger in a similar purgatory — and then, after some back and forth with issuers, regulators finally blessed them. About 10 products began trading in mid-July; they've seen healthy inflows, though Bitcoin ETFs were in a different l...
Aug 01, 2024•28 min
Nvidia's ascent into one of the world's biggest companies was as fast as it was dramatic. The company's startling rise has sparked new ETFs to launch and propelled others to record heights. Nvidia's dominance is also changing indexes and weightings, which can have a dramatic impact on investors—especially when a rebalance gets a little wild. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence and Emily Graffeo of Bloomberg News a...
Jul 18, 2024•20 min
Single-stock ETFs seem like an oxymoron: An investing vehicle that usually contains an entire portfolio reduced to just a single company? But whatever skepticism existed when this type of ETF — which are either leveraged or inverse — first launched two years agoCHTK has abated. Traders are hooked on this type of ETF "hot sauce," even if it sounds a lot like gambling. Assets in single-stock ETFs have doubled in assets this year, to more than $5 billion. The most popular such ETF, GraniteShares 2x...
Jul 04, 2024•45 min
So far, this has been a banner year for exchange-traded funds. The S&P 500 is at record highs, inflows keep soaring and investors are taking more risk. BlackRock’s Bitcoin offering even became the most successful ETF launch ever. On this episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber discuss the most noteworthy themes and trends of the past six months with Todd Rosenbluth and Cinthia Murphy of VettaFi. They review what the inflows reveal, how various sectors are performing and which products and iss...
Jun 20, 2024•37 min
For the first time in its 49-year history, Vanguard has chosen a chief executive from outside the company. His name is Salim Ramji, who previously served as head of BlackRock’s global exchange-traded fund business. The move comes as Vanguard continues to lead the industry in flows, but the giant has other challenges—such as customer service. How much should we expect Ramji to change, or leave the the same, in the House that Bogle Built? On this episode of Trillions , Joel Weber and Eric Balchuna...
Jun 06, 2024•30 min
The iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) was the most successful ETF launch in history by nearly all metrics. For most ETFs it takes years to hit $10 billion in assets. IBIT did it in less than two months. It's now closing in on $20 billion. How much bigger will it get? Who exactly is buying it? And how did BlackRock end up being one of the firms leading the charge on ETF-izing crypto? On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric speak with Robert Mitchnick, head of digital assets for BlackRock, about th...
May 23, 2024•46 min
While most of the money flowing into exchange-traded funds goes into the cheaper ones, investors are willing to pay up for certain things. And after all, ETF issuers have to pay the bills somehow. Figuring out how to price an ETF so it’s both appealing to investors and generates revenue is one of the more unsung arts of the industry. On this episode, Joel and Eric speak with Athanasios Psarofagis, an ETF analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, and Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld about BI’s recent...
May 09, 2024•30 min
The issuer of an exchange-traded fund has one main goal, and that’s to get assets—but being recognized is nice, too. Just like the Oscars, the ETF industry has its own awards show, held by ETF.com every April in New York City. Categories include ETF of the Year, Issuer of the Year, Best New Fixed Income ETF and even a Lifetime Achievement Award. Now that the tenth annual ETF awards ceremony is in the history books, we can tell you that—just like the Academy Awards—there were some notable winners...
Apr 25, 2024•36 min
The music industry took a huge revenue hit when the MP3 came out about twenty years ago but has since found ways to make money. And now there’s an ETF for that too. On this episode of Trillions, we speak with David Schulhof, founder and CEO of the MUSQ Global Music Industry ETF, about the stocks in the ETFs as well as the growth of the music industry which includes songs, platforms, concerts and the Taylor Swift economy. We also discuss his career in the music industry and whether music has gott...
Apr 11, 2024•32 min
After 17 years, the Bank of Japan finally scrapped the world’s last negative interest policy. The central bank also announced it will cease buying exchange-traded funds, an effort originally intended to revitalize the corporate sector and pump cash into the economy. So what becomes of its $475 billion ETF hoard? That’s to be determined, but just as Japan is changing course, China’s so-called “national team” has begun purchasing a handful of key Chinese ETFs. On this episode, Eric and Joel are jo...
Mar 28, 2024•20 min
The Big Take from Bloomberg News brings you inside what’s shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 26, 2024•1 min
Worry? What worries? As the market hits new all-time highs, investors are “comfortably bullish,” according to research by Bloomberg Intelligence. They’re also bullish on exchange-traded funds, according to BI’s first-ever ETF survey. What if anything could derail this state of optimism? And how is the current enthusiasm different from the meme-stock euphoria and previous all-time highs of 2021? On this episode of Trillions , Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Bloomberg Intelligence ETF ana...
Mar 14, 2024•29 min
The Deal , hosted by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, features intimate conversations with business titans, sports champions and game-changing entrepreneurs who reveal their investment philosophies, pivotal career moves and the ones that got away. From Bloomberg Podcasts and Bloomberg Originals, The Deal is available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , iHeart , Bloomberg Carplay, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Television, and Bloomberg Originals on YouTube ....
Mar 04, 2024•2 min
Exchange, the biggest ETF conference of the year just concluded at the Fontainebleau in Miami. Issuers, advisors, service providers and just people who just love ETFs gathered to network and discuss all the latest trends in the industry and market. On this week’s episode, Joel and Eric recap this big annual event and listen to clips from a dozen interviews that Eric took while he was at the conference. Topics include the bitcoin boom, active’s increasing presence, how ETF share classes are next ...
Feb 29, 2024•27 min
