SPY wasn’t just a hit product, it was an inspiration for an entire industry to take off. But it didn’t happen overnight. It took about 10 years for the ETF structure to be utilized for other asset classes and strategies, which today seem normal but at the time were revolutionary. On this installment we look at many of the game changing products that followed, including the first bond ETF, the first gold ETF, Vanguard’s entry and the rise of smart-beta, which was active management’s way to get in...
Jan 29, 2023•20 min
SPDR S&P 500, or SPY, is the world’s largest ETF today with about $240 billion in assets, but it wasn’t much to look at when it debuted in 1993. Some days it was on “volume life support,” trading as little as 18,000 shares; there was even talk of pulling the plug. Yet true believers, guerrilla marketing, and a booming 1990s stock market helped the product gain favor. And once SPY took off, the markets were forever changed. This episode also explores how SPY soon inspired a host of other ETFs...
Jan 29, 2023•15 min
Just as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak weren’t the only two geeks in a garage working on a computer in the 1970s, the AMEX wasn’t the only exchange looking to get a market basket instrument listed. The late 1980s saw multiple attempts to create something like an ETF, including SuperShares, Equity Index Participation Shares, Cash Index Participation Shares and the Toronto 35 Index Participation Units. Ultimately, SPY gets – and deserves – the lion’s share of the credit as the first ETF. But by no m...
Jan 29, 2023•13 min
When the SPDR S&P 500 Trust (SPY) was submitted to the SEC in 1988, George Michael’s "Faith" was the No. 1 song and Magic Johnson led the Lakers to another NBA Championship. By the time SPY finally launched in 1993, Nirvana had ushered in the grunge era and Michael Jordan had taken over the NBA. While the SEC wrestled with this unique product -- which was almost like a foreign object that had landed on their desks -- the whole culture had changed. In those four long years, there was much bac...
Jan 29, 2023•12 min
Government reports are known more for curing insomnia than providing inspiration for revolutionary products. The October 1987 Market Break Report might be an exception. A paragraph deep in the SEC's 800-page white paper happened to outline a “product” for trading baskets of stocks. On this episode of “The ETF Story,” you'll learn how those words gave Nate Most and Steve Bloom the idea for what would become the exchange-traded fund. You'll also hear from Vanguard founder John Bogle, who passed on...
Jan 29, 2023•11 min
Thirty years ago today, the very first exchange-traded fund started trading on the American Stock Exchange. At the time, Bill Clinton had just moved into the White House and America was trying on a new role as the world's lone superpower. On Wall Street, an entire industry soon realized that the ETF was a revolution all its own. Today, there are more than 3,000 ETFs listed in the US, plus another 6,000 international ones, and together they hold $6.8 trillion in assets. In “The ETF Story,” a spec...
Jan 29, 2023•21 min
This month marks the 30th birthday of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), the granddaddy ETF that started it all and is still the largest and most-traded ETF in the world. But getting this ETF launched was no small task; neither was getting assets into it. Though once people saw its value-add, the financial world changed forever. This week, we speak with Jay Baker, who — as vice president of options marketing at the American Stock Exchange — worked with Nate Most and Steve Bloom to drum up int...
Jan 19, 2023•41 min
From inflation and the Federal Reserve, China and Russia, fundamentals and Bitcoin, there’s no shortage of themes for investors to think about in 2023. And while we can’t give you investing advice, we can give you a few tickers to watch. On this episode, Eric and Joel take a tour of Bloomberg Intelligence’s listicle of ETFs for the year ahead. They’re joined by James Seyffart and Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence as well as Scarlet Fu of Bloomberg News. Among the ETFs discussed are...
Jan 05, 2023•40 min
Hosted by Bloomberg Opinion senior executive editor Tim O'Brien, Crash Course will bring listeners directly into the arenas where epic business and social upheavals occur. Every week, Crash Course will explore the lessons to be learned when creativity and ambition collide with competition and power -- on Wall Street and Main Street, and in Hollywood and Washington. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 04, 2023•2 min
Got an idea for an exchange-traded fund but don’t want to deal with the logistics? A group of “white label” ETF issuers are in the business of helping people launch their own fund—and business is booming. These issuers have minted more than 100 ETFs this way—for both big asset managers and entrepreneurial individuals simply passionate about an idea. On this week’s episode of Trillions , we speak to the “big three” of ETF white labels: Garrett Stevens, chief executive of Exchange Traded Concepts,...
Dec 22, 2022•37 min
The future is very bright for ETFs, which in 2022 saw record volume and the second most flows and new launches—all astounding numbers considering the stock and bond markets were in the gutter return-wise. So what can we expect next year? What areas should people be watching? On this episode of Trillions , Bloomberg Intelligence’s exchange-traded fund team go over their just-published 2023 Outlook which covers topics such as active, alternatives, crypto, China and thematic investing—and just how ...
Dec 08, 2022•34 min
The crypto market may not be dead, but it’s arguably in a temporary coma thanks to the spectacular implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX. The bankrupt crypto exchange, with billions of dollars of customer funds allegedly missing, has spooked all but the hardcore believers and potentially set the digital asset class back by years. On this episode of Trillions , we sit down with James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence and reporter Katie Greifeld to discuss what this means for exchange-traded fund ...
Nov 24, 2022•24 min
It took 15 years for an ideal environment to arrive for alternative exchange-traded funds—which employ or mimic hedge fund strategies—but their moment has finally come. They’ve grown assets by 25% this year as investors look for something to help offset the decline of 60/40 portfolios. To truly understand how they work and what they track, however, requires a lot of due diligence. On this episode of Trillions , we speak with senior reporter Katherine Burton, Andrew Beer, managing partner and por...
Nov 10, 2022•40 min
Every year there's far more ETF launches than closures. But market headwinds are starting to accelerate the number of liquidations. So far this year the Grim Reaper has already come for about 100 ETFs. On this episode of Trillions—just in time for Halloween—Eric and Joel take a tour of this year's ETF graveyard with Katie Greifeld of Bloomberg News, Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence and Todd Rosenbluth of VettaFi. Each guest shares a few noteworthy headstones, $NIFE, $CTRU, $TRYP, ...
Oct 27, 2022•41 min
South Korea is having a moment. Between the stellar rise of K-pop and worldwide film hits such as Parasite and Squid Game , the country has established itself as a power to be reckoned with when it comes to global entertainment. This level of success is exactly why a young man by the name of Jangwon Lee decided to launch—you guessed it—The KPOP and Korean Entertainment exchange-traded fund. We speak with Lee, chief executive of CT Investments and Content Technologies, and reporter Isabelle Lee a...
Oct 13, 2022•32 min
Boring is beautiful this year as investors rush to the relative safety (and higher yields) of exchange-traded funds that hold short-term treasuries. But what exactly is inside them? And what are the risk-rewards of the most popular ones? On this episode of Trillions, we look at cash-like ETFs with reporter Katie Greifeld and James Seyffart of Bloomberg Intelligence. We also dig into inflation and the world of currency ETFs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 29, 2022•25 min
Active managers have, historically, had a tough time beating their benchmarks. Yet this year may prove to be an exception; nearly half of large-cap managers are outperforming. Can they keep it up? And can anything really reverse the massive migration to passive investing at this point? On this episode, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Tim Edwards of S&P Dow Jones Indices, who oversees the SPIVA report, aka the ultimate active vs. passive scorecard. With his just-published latest inst...
Sep 15, 2022•25 min
A new approach to investing called direct or custom indexing effectively lets investors own stocks but with some special enhancements, such as capturing tax alpha. In other words, you get some of an ETF's charm without the ETF. For investors interested in potentially taking a portfolio to the next level, this is a new tool for the toolbox. On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Patrick O'Shaughnessy, CEO of O'Shaughnessy Asset Management and host of the podcast Invest Like the Best, about the...
Sep 01, 2022•42 min
Inflation. Unemployment. Consumer demand. All important economic data—but more important is how the Federal Reserve interprets it all and reacts. The central bank wields an especially powerful influence over markets, so understanding how its members think, what they are doing and why is important for any engaged investor. We speak with Ira Jersey, Bloomberg’s Chief US Interest Rate Strategist, about how to read the latest inflation data through the Fed’s eyes. We also talk about how exactly the ...
Aug 18, 2022•39 min
In investing, a black swan event is something almost nobody sees coming—and to make a bet on the outcome of that unforeseen event has always been expensive and complicated. Inflation upending the market over the past year, and the Federal Reserve’s pivot to higher interest rates, has sparked interest among investors looking to hedge this particular type of “tail risk.” On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Meb Faber, founder of Cambria and host of podcast “The Meb Faber Show.” Faber has desi...
Aug 04, 2022•42 min
A single-stock ETF might sound like an oxymoron, but it's about to become a massive new category. These ETFs, which aim to serve up inverse and leveraged exposure to single stocks, are already a thing in Europe—and now they've come to the US, with the SEC approving the first batch earlier this month. One of them, the AXS Tesla Bear Daily ETF ($TSLQ), shows early signs of being a big hit. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Matt Tuttle, Chief Investment Officer ...
Jul 21, 2022•30 min
Just when you think the world of exchange-traded funds has run out of new ideas, along comes something truly novel. Instead of slicing the market up into themes, geographies or strategies, these are dividing by time. The new ETFs are only exposed to US stocks overnight, which studies have shown beats holding them during the day. On this episode we speak with NightShares Chief Executive Officer Bruce Lavine and Chief Investment Officer Max Gokhman about why this phenomenon exists, why it hasn’t b...
Jul 07, 2022•25 min
When markets plummet like they have this year, investors want to grab onto something—anything—that isn’t in free-fall. High-dividend exchange-traded funds, with their exposures to the energy and utilities sectors, have emerged as a rare bright spot, or at least a less-dim one. They’ve seen $25 billion in inflows already, which is a record—one that could double by the end of the year. On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, and reporter Suzanne Wool...
Jun 23, 2022•34 min
Investing in stock and bond markets during a boring, decade-long bull market is easy enough. It’s a little more difficult when everything is trending downward, inflation is at record highs and even Cardi B is tweeting about recession jitters. And yet, strong flows into exchange-traded funds and index funds show investors are very much willing to follow this wealth-creation strategy. Eric and Joel speak with Nick Maggiulli, chief operating officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management, about h...
Jun 09, 2022•35 min
Unlike most declines, stocks and bonds have been sinking together so far this year. Rising inflation and a hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve are providing little comfort to investors. And yet ETFs continue to see massive flows. Eric and Joel speak with Gina Martin Adams, chief equity analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence , as well as Jon Maier, chief investment officer of Global X ETFs, about the search for the bottom, the odds of a recession, Fed policy, trending ETFs, Twitter’s love of ...
May 26, 2022•33 min
BlackRock and Vanguard collectively own about 15% of every US company, but are they voting their shares in a way that aligns with investors in their funds? One new exchange-traded fund company, Strive Asset Management, says they aren’t, claiming they’ve gone against their fiduciary duty by becoming too “woke” and forming an “ideological cartel.” Now it has plans to offer alternatives. We talk to Vivek Ramaswamy and Anson Frericks, co-founders of...
May 12, 2022•32 min
Three years ago, Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber went to Jack Bogle’s office in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and recorded an episode of Trillions . That chat helped inspire Balchunas’s new book, “The Bogle Effect,” about the Vanguard founder’s influence on investing and the financial industry. On this episode of the podcast, Balchunas and Weber are joined by reporter Annie Massa to go over some of the bigger points Balchunas makes...
Apr 28, 2022•37 min
This past year has reminded everyone why they’re called “emerging” markets. But it’s gone further this time, with investors questioning whether they even want to own anything in countries ruled by authoritarian governments, such as those in Russia and China. The conversation, in other words, has evolved. On this week’s episode of Trillions , we recorded live from the Exchange conference in Miami with Perth Tolle, founder of Life + Liberty Indexes, Jeremy Schwartz, chief information officer of Wi...
Apr 14, 2022•43 min
Nobody deserves the nickname Mr. ETF as much as Reggie Browne, principal of GTS and a renowned market maker. He's had an amazing behind-the-scenes vantage these past few decades because almost everyone launching a new ETF comes to ask for his blessing—and seek his seed capital. This special episode of Trillions was recorded in front of a live audience as a Bloomberg New Voices event. Eric and his guest co-host, Scarlet Fu of Bloomberg Quicktake, interview Reggie about how ETFs are born, whether ...
Mar 31, 2022•33 min
If ETFs were living creatures, they might be cockroaches—they can survive almost anything. And yet Russia's invasion of Ukraine has presented a rare test. The VanEck Russia ETF, or $RSX, has seen its trading halted; the product holds shares of Russian companies, many of them in the energy and financial sectors. Investors may end up recovering only a fraction of their exposures; retail traders who used options to short the ETF ahead of its mid-February nosedive may not be able to collect their wi...
Mar 17, 2022•32 min
