The AI narrative often centers on the limitless potential of software. However, the real-world trajectory of the technology is increasingly dictated by rigid physical limitations: copper wiring and data center temperature control.

The U.S. ETF market has reached a tipping point. With nearly 5,000 funds now trading—officially outnumbering listed stocks — the industry is flooded with complexity.

Energy is dominating headlines on escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Following military strikes over the weekend, disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint responsible for roughly 20% of global oil flow— have sent markets into a risk-off frenzy.

Strong performance and dividend yields amid volatility — typically, an investor may need to sacrifice one in order to maximize the other.

Artificial intelligence-themed companies certainly propelled the stock market to greater heights in 2025. Near the tail of end of the year, however, market experts questioned whether certain companies benefiting from the AI theme had the underlying fundamentals to support their lofty valuations.

Small-caps and the related equities have found their respective grooves. The fact that the Russell 2000 Index is higher by more than 7% year-to-date confirms this. On the surface, the small-cap resurgence is good news.

Last year’s market surge wasn’t built on hype. New research from Alger shows that AI spending and the accompanying infrastructure buildout drove corporate earnings higher, with fundamentals doing the heavy lifting rather than investor sentiment alone.

2026 offers plenty of opportunity in tech investing once again following a breakout year for tech AI tech in 2025. Inventors want that tech upside, but this year could behoove investors to diversify outside of AI hyperscalers.

Almost 1,000 active ETFs launched in 2025, but did their performance substantiate the demand? Across the universe of funds, active managers for ETFs and mutual funds found that outperformance was elusive compared to their passive peers based on the latest Morningstar US Active/Passive Barometer report.

On a recent episode of Road to Exchange, VettaFi Head of Research Todd Rosenbluth interviewed Jennifer Morgan, Founder & CEO of Connective Communications. Morgan is slated to bring her “Storyselling” workshop to the Exchange Conference.

2026 may already be more than a month in, but advisors and investors are still quite keen to navigate the complex geopolitical market in order to find the most opportune investment opportunities.

In a notable shift for the start of 2026, the S&P 500 is experiencing a divergence in factor performance. Typically, high beta (aggressive, high-risk) and low volatility (defensive, safe-haven) factors sit on opposite sides of the seesaw. When one goes up, the other usually comes down.

As the hunt for yield and stability remains a cornerstone of portfolios in 2026, a group of iShares short-term bond ETFs have made a strategic move to the Big Board today.

Roundhill Financial, GraniteShares, and Bitwise have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for prediction market ETFs. These funds would let investors bet directly on election outcomes. That would be a departure from traditional political theme funds that hold baskets of stocks expected to benefit from certain party victories.

Income ETFs have become a key part of the ETF landscape in recent years. With their ability to use tools like call options and FLEX options, as well as dividend-focused stocks, income ETFs can help investors meet their goals.

Not long ago, CLO ETFs were niche vehicles only talked about at credit conferences and in sophisticated bond manager circles. But fast forward to 2026, and they’ve entered the mainstream – drawing meaningful interest from both institutions and retail investors.

Thematic ETFs have maintained their impressive momentum in early 2026, building on a resurgent 2025. After gathering $23 billion last year, the category added another $4 billion in January alone.

Emerging market ETFs are back in focus. Two of the ten largest U.S.-listed ETF inflow winners year-to-date are broad EM funds. As expected, low-cost passive strategies continue to dominate flows, although they don’t always lead on returns.

Gold has always been one of the go-to assets when stomach-churning volatility forces queasy investors into safe havens. However, recent volatility has been challenging that safe haven narrative, and one of the drivers has been speculative trading activity in China ETFs.

The performance of digital assets in recent months, especially bitcoin, has been testing investor conviction in both the category’s near-term growth potential as well as bitcoin’s standing as a gold-like store of value and a key character in the debasement trade story.

As of February 10, 2026, Victory Capital managed $20 billion in ETF assets, with an impressive $9 billion of new money flowing in during the past 12 months.

Despite headwinds, ESG ETFs saw a 6.62% growth in AUM in 2025, according to State Street Investment Management.

The year is young, but already, a clear theme is emerging: investors are looking to add international equities exposure to their portfolios. ETFs already offer a wide variety of options for investors to get that exposure, but which fund or funds make th

There’s no stopping the momentum in the ETF market. January 2026 brought a record $166 billion in net inflows, surpassing the last three Januarys combined.

The year is young, but already, a clear theme is emerging: investors are looking to add international equities exposure to their portfolios. ETFs already offer a wide variety of options for investors to get that exposure, but which fund or funds make the most sense?

The ALPS Clean Energy ETF (ACES) jumped 9.26% in January as investors turned their attention to the massive power requirements of AI data centers and the infrastructure needed to support them, according to recent ALPS Advisors insights.

The fund’s outperformance comes as investors debate whether market leadership will broaden beyond mega-cap technology names. While passive index funds must hold all constituents regardless of fundamentals, CNEQ’s structure enables its portfolio manager to concentrate capital in companies they believe are showing accelerating growth.

DroneShield’s rising success shouldn’t come as a particular surprise to the investment community. As drones continue to become more of a part of everyday life, both for defense and commercial use, demand will continue to mount for companies and software designed to preserve public safety and mitigate the threat of military drones.

Investors seeking protection from geopolitical volatility and stubborn inflation in 2026 may find opportunity in short-term bonds, where active management has historically delivered returns 25% higher than passive strategies, according to Vontobel Asset Management.

The term private credit is often reduced to its most literal meaning – lending money privately. While accurate, Chris Getter, managing director and portfolio manager at Simplify Asset Management, believes that definition does a disservice to the asset class.

The start of 2026 has brought no shortage of challenges for advisors, ranging from shifting rate expectations to valuation concerns in a top-heavy market. Nonetheless, ETFs gathered an impressive $165 billion of new money in January, more than the previous three Januaries combined, according to State Street Investment Management.

There’s an ongoing shift in how investors access income through ETFs. No longer is sourcing income a pursuit centered solely on fixed income assets. Today, it increasingly includes the use of derivatives to boost yield and total return, and to capitalize on equity volatility.

Top strategists joined VettaFi on January 29 to provide data-backed forecasts on the trajectory of global interest rates, persistent inflationary pressures, and the resilience of corporate earnings. Advisors came away from the event with the tools needed to mitigate risks stemming from sudden regime shifts while capturing alpha in a fragmented market.

For years now, advisors and investors alike have been pouring significant attention — and inflows — into the broad spectrum of fixed income ETFs.

VettaFi recently sat down with Morten Paulsen, head of research for robotics & machinery at CLSA, to discuss the transition of physical AI into a tech-driven industrial up-cycle. Paulsen projects that persistent U.S. labor shortages will drive domestic robot shipments toward a historical high of 40,000 units in 2026.

Passive, active, Treasuries, corporates, munis, international, and more — the whole spectrum of fixed income ETFs seemed to come off a strong year in 2025. The year was also marked by a bevy of launches.

Join us at the Winter Symposium for a crucial session dedicated to defining investment strategy for the coming year.

Private markets were historically for institutional and ultra-high-net-worth investors. Today, that exclusivity is breaking down, as many retail investors realize the value behind private markets and advisors look for additional diversification tools.

2025 capped off a record year for orbital launches, confirming that the space industry is more than alive and well. This creates a growth opportunity set for the Procure Space ETF (UFO), which can capture ongoing developments in the industry in 2026.

Another blockbuster year for bond ETFs is in the books. After two straight years of record net inflows, taxable fixed income ETF assets have nearly doubled since 2020 – crossing the $2 trillion mark. But the big story in 2026 will be rising pressure to move out of money market funds.

According to Baiocchi, advisors are reevaluating portfolios and recognizing gaps in exposure to companies driving major market themes.

As geopolitical tensions reshape global trade, capital flows and investor risk appetite, gold is once again surfacing as an important component of asset allocation. Some investors and central banks are arguably viewing gold as a risk hedge, supplanting US Treasuries as a safe-haven asset.

As seen in a How to Find Pure Play Approaches to Drone Technology webinar, a lot goes on behind the scenes when building an exchange-traded fund (ETF) — in this case, the REX Drone ETF (DRNZ).

In 2025, despite representing just over 10% of ETF assets, actively managed ETFs gathered nearly one-third of all ETF inflows. Investors increasingly turned to discretionary active equity and fixed income ETFs and not just index-based ETFs. That has persisted thus far in 2026, with active ETFs gathering 37% of new money.

Amplify ETFs had an impressive year in 2025, outperforming the broader market in both asset growth rate and performance across its thematic and income-oriented suites.

The whole world may be talking about AI nonstop right now, but that doesn’t mean other tech segments are falling off. Some are actually outperforming. Blockchain ETF BLOK, for example, has significantly outperformed its ETF Database Category average over the last year.

In the investment business, it’s common to address not only what occurred during the past twelve months but also to provide an assessment of future prospects.

With 2025 in the books, it will be a difficult year to top for fixed income exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but Morningstar is predicting more excitement to come. That should keep fixed income investors fixated on what new developments the space brings this year.

2025 will go down as another year of record-breaking achievements for exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Among the past year’s highlights was a record number of mutual funds converting to ETFs, as noted by Ben Johnson, Morningstar Head of Client Solutions, via a LinkedIn post.

The MSCI Emerging Markets index rallied more than 30% in U.S. dollar terms, easily outpacing the S&P 500 and other developed market benchmarks. And many are expecting that broader outperformance to continue in 2026 – thanks to a combination of macro developments, valuations and AI exposure.