Inside Active by Bloomberg Intelligence

Shifting geopolitical risks, growing AI-driven power demand and consolidation across global energy markets are reshaping investment opportunities in oil, natural gas and real assets. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and Vincent Piazza, senior energy analyst at BI, speak with Will Thomson, founder and managing partner of Massif Capital LLC. They discuss investing across energy, mining and other liquid real assets, and why commodity-producing companies are often misunderstood as simple bets on commodity prices. The conversation also explores how Thomson combines bottom-up company research with macro views on commodities and geopolitics, and why management teams, project execution and overlooked “orphan periods” can create opportunities for active managers, as well as structural natural gas trends and the challenge of managing volatility in cyclical sectors. Recorded May 5.

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Over the past decade, expanded market access through ETFs and new structures has raised questions about capacity, outcomes and what it means for active management. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Anna Paglia, executive vice president and chief business officer for State Street Investment Management, about how the industry is moving beyond the traditional active-versus-passive debate as ETFs evolve into a vehicle for both. They explore how strong benchmarks and investor focus on returns are raising the bar for active managers, and how capacity and liquidity shape decisions around product structure. They also discuss the role of model portfolios in driving flows and the potential to expand access to private markets by improving transparency and liquidity. Recorded May 4.

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Markets have recently been driven by a narrow set of AI-linked winners, but as these trends become widely recognized, the challenge is identifying what opportunities remain and what is already priced in. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Dr. Ankur Crawford, executive vice president and portfolio manager at Alger, including the Alger Focus Equity Fund (ALGRX) and Alger Concentrated Equity ETF (CNEQ), about how she identifies positive dynamic change across both disruptive growth companies and businesses undergoing reinvention. They explore how a longer-term investment horizon helps distinguish durable growth from hype, the role of deep research and pricing power in building conviction and how valuation shapes opportunities in AI. They also discuss concentrated portfolio construction, risk management and what differentiates being early from being wrong. Recorded April 21.

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Over the past decade, passive investing has dominated flows and performance, but the rapid growth of ETFs and evolving market dynamics are blurring the line between active and passive. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Phil McInnis, chief investment strategist at Avantis Investors, about how investors should think about this shift. They explore why active and passive exist more on a spectrum rather than as binary opposites, how systematic, valuation-driven approaches aim to deliver consistent excess returns, and why costs and implementation remain critical to long-term outcomes. They also discuss the rise of active ETFs, how allocators build portfolios across strategies, and what would signal a durable shift back toward active management. Recorded April 15.

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Despite geopolitical tensions, value has held up better than expected, while defensive strategies like low volatility and quality have failed to attract the typical safe-haven flows, suggesting markets are largely looking past the Iran war. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, and co-host Christopher Cain, US quantitative strategist at BI, speak with Jeff Shen, co-chief investment officer and co-head of BlackRock’s Systematic Active Equities. They discuss the evolution of systematic active equity and how advances in data, AI and machine learning are reshaping alpha generation. The conversation also explores factor timing, expansion beyond traditional factors into alternative data and new signals, and how portfolio construction and risk management are driving more consistent and differentiated outcomes. Recorded March 31.

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Over the past decade, technology investing has been dominated by a handful of mega-cap companies, but AI is opening the door to a broader and potentially very different set of future winners. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active-management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Dominic Rizzo, portfolio manager of the T. Rowe Price Global Technology Equity Fund (PRGTX) and the T. Rowe Price Technology ETF (TTEQ), about his investment framework. They explore how Rizzo identifies linchpin technologies and improving fundamentals, and why active managers may be better positioned than passive strategies to uncover the next generation of tech winners. The conversation also covers valuation, portfolio concentration, AI’s effect on productivity and growth, and how private companies like OpenAI and Anthropic fit into the opportunity set. This episode was recorded March 30.

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As value investing has lagged behind in a market led by a narrow group of large-cap growth stocks, insider buying has remained a closely watched signal, particularly during periods of volatility. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, spoke with John Spears and Jay Hill, managing directors with Tweedy, Browne and portfolio managers for the Insider + Value ETF (COPY) and International Insider + Value ETF (ICPY) about combining those ideas into a systematic investment approach. They discuss how they define value today, why insider buying can be a powerful signal, how they separate meaningful trades from noise and how they build portfolios designed to capture the strategy’s long-term results. This episode was recorded on March 24.

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Active fixed-income ETFs are entering a new phase of growth, driven by investor demand, structural advantages and expanding product breadth. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, speaks with Jeff Johnson, head of Fixed Income Product at Vanguard, about the rapid rise of active bond ETFs and why fixed income remains a compelling space for active management. They discuss Vanguard’s expansion beyond its indexing roots, the appeal of ETFs for flexibility, liquidity and cost efficiency, and the key design challenges of active strategies in an ETF wrapper, including daily portfolio disclosure and scalability. The conversation also explores where flows are moving across short duration, core and higher-yielding strategies. Recorded March 19.

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Active ETFs may be in a golden age, not just a hot streak, driven by product innovation, lower structural frictions, conversions and potential ETF share classes. In this episode of the Inside Active podcast, host David Cohne, a mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, along with co-host Athanasios Psarofagis, an ETF analyst at BI, speak with Todd Sohn, chief ETF strategist at Strategas Securities. They discuss the current state of the active ETF market, including the breadth of flows across asset classes, the rise of outcome-oriented products and whether crowded areas like buffers and certain derivative-based strategies have become overhyped. They also examine which products helped redefine the category, where active ETFs are taking share and underappreciated areas of future growth such as small-cap, fixed income and alternatives. This episode was recorded on March 16.

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Rating agencies have been broadly positive, but their outlook is turning more cautious — especially in high yield — as geopolitical risks rise and spreads remain tight. In this episode of Inside Active, host David Cohne, mutual fund and active management analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, along with co-host Sam Geier, corporate credit strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, speak with David Sherman, founder and chief investment officer of CrossingBridge Advisors and a portfolio manager of the RiverPark Strategic Income Fund (RSIIX). Sherman explains why protecting return of capital matters more than chasing return on capital, how he applies a value-investing discipline to credit markets and where he’s finding opportunity in an expensive environment, including in the Nordic bond market. The conversation also explores the K-shaped divide in corporate credit fundamentals, the evolving distressed landscape and why liquidity premiums may be the most underappreciated risk in fixed income today. The podcast was recorded on March 3.

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