Trillions

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.

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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 installment in hand, Edwards talks through where active is doing well (and not so well), the role of fees in returns, and why bond funds tend to better than stock funds.

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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 pros and cons of custom indexing, how it differs from direct indexing and ETFs, and also how the tax alpha is achieved. They also discuss O'Shaughnessy's career, favorite philosophers, and, well, podcasting. 

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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 Fed impacts the real economy as well as what’s on its balance sheet. Finally, Jersey gives his opinion on different types of bond exchange-traded funds, such as TIPS, junk bonds and single-bond ETFs. 

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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 designed two exchange-traded funds in this space, $TAIL and $FAIL. They also speak with reporter Denitsa Tsekova, as the group discusses how tail-risk ETFs work, where they fit in a portfolio and whether you even need them. 

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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 of AXS Investments, and Katie Greifeld of Bloomberg News. They discuss Tuttle's new products, how the products work, and where things might go from here. 

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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 been used before and the challenges to implementing it.

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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 Woolley about a category of ETFs punching above their weight. They discuss some of the noteworthy ETFs, including $VYM, $DVY, $HDV, $DHS; analyze holdings and performances, and share how investors can dabble with these made-for-the-moment products.

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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 his new book, “Just Keep Buying.” They discuss saving versus investing, the importance of income-producing assets, international exposure, index investing and more.

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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 the word “capitulation” and more.

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