Nick Wodeshick

ETF Trends • 3rd February 2025

Vanguard Slashes Fees on Over 80 Funds

February may very well be an opportune month for investors that are interested in Vanguard’s funds. Today, Vanguard announced that it has lowered the fees for 168 share classes. This includes 87 funds, giving investors a lower barrier of entry for a variety of different Vanguard strategies. 
According to Vanguard, this event marks the largest fee cut in the firm’s history. In total, Vanguard asserts that the fee cuts amount to over $350 million in savings for 2025. 
“Jack Bogle founded Vangua...

ETF Trends • 31st January 2025

Tech Sell-Off Highlights Use Case for Hedged Equity ETFs |

It’s certainly no understatement to say that this week was a tumultuous one for many U.S. tech companies. January 20, China startup DeepSeek showed off its newest AI models to the world. Notably, this included an AI model known as R1, which has similar aptitudes as ChatGPT. 
Despite the similar capabilities of ChatGPT, R1 reportedly offers a distinct advantage over OpenAI’s product. According to DeepSeek, the company spent less than $6 million to build the computing power of R1. This stands in s...

ETF Trends • 15th January 2025

Bull vs. Bear: Using Sector ETFs to Make Bets on the New Regime

Bull vs. Bear is a weekly feature where the VettaFi writers’ room takes opposite sides to debate controversial stocks, strategies, or market ideas — with plenty of discussion of ETF ideas to play either angle. For this edition of Bull vs. Bear, Nick Wodeshick and Elle Caruso debate the case for using sector ETFs to make bets on the new market regime.  
Nick Wodeshick: Hello, Elle! Since the new year has just begun, it’s an opportune moment to take a look at whether sector ETFs may be the right p...

ETF Trends • 10th January 2025

Gold Investments May Still Shine This Year | ETF Trends

Gold investments certainly had a great year in 2024, breaking into new all-time highs due to macro factors and investor demand. 
Before 2024 closed out, UBS released an insight piece on how gold may perform in 2025. In the article, the UBS team highlighted a variety of factors that could work in gold’s favor. 
To start, UBS highlighted how central banks around the globe are continuing to build up their gold reserves. Going further, UBS anticipated that central banks could even buy more than 900m...

ETF Trends • 8th January 2025

Could Equal Weight Strategies Make a Comeback This Year? |

Many investors would likely not be shocked to learn that market-cap-weighted strategies saw strong results in 2024. Given the relative dominance of mega cap tech stocks, this does not come as a particular surprise. A recent report from S&P Dow Jones Indices broke down where the biggest discrepancies between equal weight and cap-weighted strategies come from. 
According to the report, the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index unfortunately underperformed the S&P 500 by 12% last year. These results follow a...

ETF Trends • 30th December 2024

Will 2025 Mark the Mid Cap Comeback? | ETF Trends

It certainly doesn’t take a market expert to tell you where equity investors largely saw the best results in 2024. For many investors, mega cap tech stocks within the Magnificent 7 paved the way for returns this year. Many of the companies within the Mag 7 remain key players in the world of artificial intelligence and cloud computing. 
Some experts are betting that the Mag 7 will continue to usher in tremendous growth next year. These predictions are buoyed by expectations that the next presiden...

ETF Trends • 13th December 2024

Muni Bond ETFs Can Capitalize on Infrastructure Spending Gaps

Fixed income investors may wish to consider opting for amplified municipal bond exposure in their portfolios through muni bond ETFs. 
A recent article from members of the Eaton Vance team breaks down some of the upcoming opportunities for muni bond ETFs. In the article, Craig R. Brandon, CFA, Co-Head of Municipal Investments, and Marc Savaria, Co-Director of Municipal Credit Research, discuss how upcoming infrastructure spending can bode very well for muni bonds. 
This Eaton Vance article breaks...

ETF Trends • 10th December 2024

What Investors Could Expect From the 2025 Equity Markets

It’s certainly no secret that 2024 provided strong opportunities for equity investors. This was especially true for traders that drilled down on the mega-cap tech names. However, with a new administration taking over U.S. leadership, investors may need to remain vigilant for new opportunities in equities. Vigilance may be difficult for investors, however, given the murkiness of the 2025 outlook. 
Jeff Weniger, CFA, Head of Equity Strategy at WisdomTree, recently participated in a panel during th...

ETF Trends • 3rd December 2024

Time to Build Up Retirement Savings | ETF Trends

Lately, investors have been focusing mostly on what to expect from the market heading into 2025. Given the relative uncertainty of the upcoming U.S. economic policy, this fixation has made a lot of sense. However, ensuring one’s portfolio is prepared for a far longer time horizon is still important. This is doubly true when it comes to planning for retirement. Now more than ever, investors should look closely at their portfolio and see how it’s helping to build up their long-term savings. 
A rec...

ETF Trends • 12th November 2024

Avoid These 2 Pitfalls In Fixed Income Investing

With the Federal Reserve slated to continue tackling interest rates, fixed income strategies remain an ever-important lynchpin in an investor’s portfolios. 
Fixed income mutual funds and ETFs can help investors build on yield, put their cash to work, and diversify their assets. However, traders may not recognize several risks associated with fixed income strategies. 
Mark J. Cintolo, CFA, CAIA, Vice President and Portfolio Consultant at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, discussed positionin...

ETF Trends • 1st November 2024

Capitalize on Apple & Amazon Earnings With These ETFs

With uncertainty swirling around overconcentration in mega-cap tech companies, investors are closely monitoring quarterly earnings. 
Yesterday, both Apple and Amazon released their quarterly earnings. These results highlighted a growing divergence in strength among the world’s largest tech giants. 
Apple reported quarterly revenue of over $94 billion, showcasing a jump of 6% over last year’s numbers. However, this good news was paired with slower revenue in China and a more modest outlook for sa...

ETF Trends • 23rd October 2024

For Your Consideration: Homebuilding ETFs | ETF Trends

Is the housing market finally starting to show some signs of life?
Recently released data certainly seems to point to that. Last week’s report from Freddie Mac noted that the housing market has seen a bit of a lift. This has been driven by lower mortgage rates, along with strong activity from first-time homebuyers. 
However, Freddie Mac conceded that some housing market headwinds have remained persistent. One particular factor that’s still slowing down the market is the lack of supply. Even if h...

ETF Trends • 18th October 2024

SPY Becomes First ETF to Reach $600 Billion in AUM |

It’s a great day to be an investor in SPY, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust. 
As of market close on Oct. 15, 2024, SPY became the world’s first ETF to surpass $600 billion in assets under management. Now, the fund’s AUM sits at about $603 billion, as of Oct. 17, 2024. SPY attained its latest threshold after the fund saw over $7 billion in inflows this week. 
“This is just one of many of firsts that are part of SPY’s legacy as the first US ETF,” noted Matthew Bartolini, managing director and head of SP...

ETF Trends • 15th October 2024

Mutual Funds Are Out & ETFs Are In. Here’s Why | ETF Trends

Seeking lower-cost options, investors are increasingly opting for ETFs in lieu of mutual funds.
That’s according to Deloitte, who recently published its 2025 Investment Management Outlook. The Deloitte report broke down just how much cash is moving into the ETF wrapper, along with why investors are continuing to pivot to ETFs. 
According to Deloitte, active mutual funds have seen cumulative net flows of -$2.6 trillion over the last five years. Meanwhile, mutual funds with an indexing approach ha...

ETF Trends • 9th October 2024

Heading Into November, Retail Investors Opt to Pivot Portfolios |

With the upcoming U.S. elections weighing on the minds of investors, many are opting to reassess their asset allocations this month.
Recent data from eToro found that nearly 50% of American retail investors intend to or have already moved their portfolios due to their expectations for the presidential election. The eToro data notes that 42% of these investments have gone to cash assets, while 35% went to more stocks and 20% moved to crypto assets. 
While most age groups have preferred to bolster...

ETF Trends • 4th September 2024

Direxion's Ed Egilinsky Talks Small-Caps, Growth & More |

Following market uncertainty in August, investors may feel compelled to reassess their portfolio allocations. With potential rate cuts from the Federal Reserve on the horizon, now may be a good time to diversify your portfolio and seek growth strategies. Ed Egilinsky, managing director, head of sales and distribution, and head of alternative investments at Direxion, recently sat down with the VettaFi team to discuss small-caps, large-caps, and other interesting avenues for growth.
Nick Wodeshick...