The 2025 ETF Mailbag

Young people are looking for an easier way to accumulate wealth than working a 9-5 job for 40 years. This reluctance to follow the path of their elders has grown the appeal—and assets—of income-generating exchange-traded funds, which can generate anywhere between 2% and 200% yields, sometimes using complex derivatives. This universe of ETFs has exploded in popularity, with the assets ballooning to $750 billion. And while regular payouts may sound alluring, investors might be prioritizing short-term action over long-term gains. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Vildana Hajric, a cross-asset reporter with Bloomberg News, about how these income ETFs work, why they appeal to young investors and what to know about their risks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 A relentless barrage of headlines in recent weeks have all centered on exchange-traded funds. For the first time, there are now more ETFs than stocks (4,300 versus 4,200). Also of note, ETFs have also become prized listings for exchanges—perhaps even more than IPOs—because they trade so much. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Dave Nadig, president and director of research at ETF.com, and Athanasios Psarofagis, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. They discuss those stories as well those on passive ownership's increasing complexity; a different way to think about the Magnificent Seven; Vanguard's push into active management; Wall Street not seeing a need for tokenization; and the irony of European ESG equity funds having exposure to the nuclear arms industry.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here’s a mind-blowing stat: the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) is the fastest exchange-traded fund in history to hit the $10 billion mark outside of the Bitcoin ETFs. After a slow start, its price has doubled over the past three months, sparking massive inflows just as it hit its first birthday. On this episode or Trillions, Joel Weber and Eric Balchunas look at why Ether is rallying, how big it could get and how investors should view it relative to Bitcoin in a portfolio. They are joined by Matt Hougan, CIO of Bitwise and Isabelle Lee of Bloomberg News.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ETF "Thunderdome" is an unforgiving and relentless environment. Which makes the exchange-traded funds from JPMorgan Asset Management so noteworthy. Led by its Chief Executive Officer George Gatch, the firm has carved out a unique niche — active ETFs — and then used its institutional muscle to move up the leaderboard while driving down costs. In an era where 75% of all active funds are seeing outflows, JPMorgan has found a way to thrive; in fact, it’s now the fourth biggest active fund company in the US.  On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Gatch about JPMorgan's secret sauce, his strategy in the active category, how his biggest products became such hits, why fixed income remains a promising space, what to watch in private markets and why he's avoiding crypto.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joel, Eric and Athanasios Psarofagis crack open the mailbag to answer some listener questions about ETFs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You just might be able to experience the financial future today. A recent trend in investing has exchange-traded fund issuers creating funds focused on futuristic themes like humanoid robots, alien technology and quantum computing. The hope is to attract investors looking for the next big idea. But needless to say, not all of them will pan out—remember Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse? On this episode of Trillions, Joel Weber and Eric Balchunas look at the recent flurry of futuristic theme ETFs, their prospects for success and how to do due diligence on them. They are joined by Bloomberg cross asset reporter Vildana Hajric.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the hottest themes of 2025 is defense companies as potential US isolationism has other countries scrambling to beef up their military. And within that it is European stocks that have really led the charge. This theme went from rags to riches overnight practically but it's been largely a winner take all category. On this episode of Trillions Joel and Eric speak with Bloomberg Intelligence's Senior ETF Analyst for Europe, Henry Jim about the wild frenzy to launch European defense ETFs around the world to catch this massive wave of returns.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The narrative all year was "sell America" yet the stock market is positive on the year and flirting with all time highs after coming back from a brutal Q1. Like COVID this is a rally few predicted although this time the market didn't have the Fed's help. What happened? Why was everyone was so wrong?On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric talk about the wide gap between narrative and price and why US investors are simply not giving up on US stocks. They are joined by Athanasios Psarofagis of Bloomberg Intelligence and Isabelle Lee of Bloomberg News.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In investing, there are many “rules.” And the rules are intended to help you, dear investor, make money. But if you’ve been around money — and especially if you’ve been around a lot of money … managing other people’s money, say — you know that people make a lot of mistakes, too. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Barry Ritholtz, the co-founder, chairman and chief investment officer of Ritholtz Wealth Management and host of the Bloomberg podcast Masters in Business, about his new book, How Not to Invest. They discuss several of Ritholtz’s hot takes — all rooted in what not to do with your money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During her time as a commissioner at the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Hester Peirce has often been a dissenting voice—especially on all things crypto. Now, as she approaches the official end of her term, her legacy may include an SEC that’s more aligned with the positions she championed. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber—along with stacy-marie ishmael, head of cross-asset and crypto coverage for Bloomberg News—interview Peirce at the SEC’s offices in Washington. Peirce discusses her search for “crypto clarity,” why “merit” doesn’t matter and how the SEC will evaluate the 80-plus crypto-themed exchange-traded fund filings—including ones involving Trump. She also discusses the “terribly mismanaged” process for Bitcoin ETFs and other hot topics including private assets and share classes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.