Trillions

To kick off the new year, Bloomberg Intelligence has its annual list of ETFs for your stocking-shaped portfolio. While these aren't buy or sell market predictions, the funds are worthy of your watchlist as they may help investors tap into or navigate important themes. And you never know, a few of them could even have a breakout moment you'll find yourself humble-bragging about. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber are joined by Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Athanasios Psarofagis and James Seyffart, who helped write the team's annual report. The episode features 16 ETFs, including the tickers BINC, XOVR, MSOS, BUFB, UFOD, OTGL, VXUS, SBIL, RSST, SPYM, BOXX, GRFT, ITB, PXUI, PCLN and LRND.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Competing in the marketplace for exchange-traded funds — aka "The Terrordome" — is not for the faint of heart. It's like fighting a multi-front war where issuers have to market existing funds; engage in fee wars with the likes of Vanguard and BlackRock; and innovate in a rapidly changing industry, which now includes more than 300 firms. Only the strong thrive. On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Brian Hartigan, the global head of ETFs and index investments at Invesco. The fourth-biggest ETF issuer in the US, Invesco has about $800 billion in assets under management and saw inflows of $67 billion in 2025. They discuss how the company competes against the industry's "Big Three," the secret behind QQQ's dramatic success and the surprising staying power of smart-beta ETFs. They also explore whether there are simply too many ETFs and how retail investors should assess volatile assets, like Bitcoin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2025 is arguably the single best year in ETF history as the industry has broken all-time records in the three primary categories: flows, launches and volume. What is behind these numbers and how long can these good times last? On this episode of Trillions, Joel and Eric look at the year that was with Katie Greifeld, reporter and anchor at Bloomberg News and Todd Sohn, senior ETF technical strategist at Strategas Securities. The conversation also includes the boon in leveraged ETFs, option-based funds, industry consolidation and whether small caps or low volatility can ever mount a comeback.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So far this year, some 920 exchange-traded funds have launched in the US alone—a new record. Some are already juggernauts. Others are more about capturing vibes than assets. And then there are some intriguing sleepers that remain under the radar. So, which is the best new addition to the overall investing landscape? On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber welcome colleagues from Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Intelligence — Isabelle Lee, Denitsa Tsekova, Andre Yapp, Vildana Hajric, James Seyffart and Athanasios Psarofagis — to make their cases for the best new ETF of 2025. Executive Editor David Papadopolous returns to Trillions as a highly subjective judge with questionable methodology. Tickers mentioned in this episode include $MEME, $CAIE, $HUMN, $TEXN, $XDIV, $BSOL, $VBIL and $GXLC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may not know the term autocallable, but you will. There’s a new type of high income ETF that tracks autocallable notes that yield 14% a year and is having instant success with flows coming in every single week since it launched in June. It’s all part of the boom in ETFs using derivatives (instead of stocks or bonds) to generate income streams. On this episode of Trillions Joel and Eric speak with Matt Kaufman, head of ETFs at Calamos Investments, about how autocallables work and the risks and rewards of investing in ETFs that track them. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.