Trillions

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Strive. They plan to launch ETFs similar to those of BlackRock and Vanguard, but promise to keep politics and ESG concerns out of their voting. They discuss criticisms of ESG investing, stakeholder vs. shareholder capitalism and what Ramaswamy calls “excellence capitalism.” They also talk about how Strive will compete against the two biggest asset managers on the planet, and its noteworthy backers—including Peter Theil and Bill Ackman.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 in his book. They go over why Vanguard’s ownership structure was the real innovation, and how the rise of passive investing is pushing active managers to get way more active. They also discuss the writing process and Balchunas’s motivation for publishing his second book. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 WisdomTree and Bloomberg reporter Katie Greifeld. Tolle and Schwartz have a friendly debate about whether China and Russia deserve a spot in a portfolio. We also discuss currency-hedged exchange-traded funds and life as a small ETF issuer.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 they need a rating system, the prospects of a bitcoin ETF, and why theme ETFs such as ARK have staying power. Started in 2018, Bloomberg New Voices began as an effort to increase female representation on Bloomberg TV and in Bloomberg News coverage; it's since expanded to include Black and Latinx executives. For more information, or to participate in the Bloomberg New Voices media training program, please visit www.bloomberg.com/newvoices.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.