Displaying items by tag: ETFs

Assets in European active ETFs have more than doubled in two years to reach €62.4 billion, though they still make up only 2.6% of Europe’s total ETF market—far behind the 10.2% share in the U.S., signaling early-stage adoption. Investor interest is rising, with €13.4 billion in inflows so far in 2025 following €18.4 billion in 2024, yet active ETFs still represent just 6% of total European ETF flows. 

JP Morgan continues to dominate with a 56% market share, followed by Fidelity and Pimco, while new players like HSBC, Avantis, and Goldman Sachs are intensifying competition and pushing fees lower. 

Equity offerings are mostly “shy-active”, benchmark-aware strategies seeking modest outperformance, while fixed-income active ETFs have quietly excelled, expanding into complex areas like CLOs and mortgage-backed securities with strong early results. 

Finsum: Overall, Europe’s active ETF market is maturing rapidly, blending innovation, cost competitiveness. 

The Nasdaq-100 Index has long rewarded investors with strong returns, delivering a 19.43% annualized gain over the past decade, outpacing the broader U.S. market’s 13.93% return, though with greater volatility. This volatility, often seen as a drawback, can actually benefit investors through direct indexing, a strategy that allows ownership of individual stocks within an index. 

Unlike ETFs, direct indexing enables tax-loss harvesting, where investors sell underperforming stocks to offset capital gains and lower tax bills while maintaining market exposure. Wealthfront has pioneered this approach with its new Nasdaq-100 Direct portfolio, offering retail investors access to innovative companies and potential tax savings with a low 0.12% annual advisory fee. 

Direct indexing can help investors turn volatility into an advantage by improving after-tax returns while closely tracking the index’s performance.

Finsum: Ultimately, the strategy offers a cost-effective, tax-efficient way to capture the long-term growth potential of the Nasdaq-100’s most dynamic companies.

The democratization of private markets is accelerating as asset managers, regulators, and ETF innovators work to expand investor access to what was once an institutional-only domain. Once viewed as opaque, illiquid, and high-cost, private markets have grown from $4 trillion to $15 trillion in assets over the past decade, as investors seek diversification, income, and long-term growth beyond public markets. 

ETFs are now at the forefront of this movement, with products like the SPDR SSGA Apollo IG Public & Private Credit ETF (PRIV) breaking new ground by offering direct exposure to private credit within a liquid wrapper. credit CLOs, each offering a distinct way to capture the returns of the private economy. 

As demand grows, firms like VanEck note that private market managers are increasingly expanding into wealth management and retirement channels, further broadening investor participation. 

Finsum: The push to make private assets more accessible marks one of the most disruptive and promising frontiers in modern investing.

Outcome-based ETFs, launched in 2018, have surged past $70 billion in assets under management as investors embrace structured approaches to manage risk and return. About 98% of assets are in buffer strategies ranging from 9% to 100%, primarily tied to the S&P 500 Index via FLEX options. 

During April 2025’s market volatility, investors shifted heavily toward 15–40% buffers, signaling stronger demand for deeper downside protection. “Max buffer” or principal-protected ETFs, offering full downside coverage, have become the fastest-growing segment, with assets up over 45% year-to-date. 

New entrants like Goldman Sachs Asset Management and McCarthy & Cox are innovating with dynamic reference assets and even bitcoin-linked outcomes. 

Finsum: With more managers entering the space and product innovation accelerating, outcome-based ETFs are reshaping how investors approach portfolio construction.

The Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) offers investors broad exposure to leading artificial intelligence (AI) companies at a very low cost, with an expense ratio of just 0.09%. While not an AI-specific fund, it tracks the information technology sector, which includes many of the world’s biggest AI players such as Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, and Broadcom. 

About two-thirds of the fund is concentrated in semiconductors and software, meaning its performance is closely tied to the success of a few dominant firms. Compared with AI-focused ETFs like Global X AIQ, which charges 0.68%, VGT’s low fee structure can translate into thousands of dollars in added returns over time. 

However, its heavy concentration — nearly 45% in Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple — makes it vulnerable to downturns in those key stocks. Overall, VGT provides a simple, low-cost way for investors to benefit from the AI boom without the challenge of picking individual winners.

Finsum: AI makes up a high percentage of GDP growth and this index fund could take advantage of this growing sector.