On this week’s episode, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, provided an in-depth look at the rapidly expanding indexing business and its role in driving innovation across the ETF landscape. Later, Ashish Joshi, global head of gold strategy at State Street Investment Management, joins Nate Geraci to share his thoughts on the key drivers behind record-high gold prices and unprecedented inflows into gold ETFs.

From Ideas to Indexes: How VettaFi Partners With Issuers

VettaFi, formed roughly three and a half years ago through the merger of multiple indexing businesses with ETF Database and ETF Trends, was recently acquired by TMX Group, a leading Canadian financial services firm. The company now supports more than $75 billion in assets across a diverse suite of indices, ranging from long-established benchmarks to newly launched strategies. Rosenbluth explained how VettaFi works with clients at different stages of product development. Some approach with fully formed concepts, while others bring only high-level ideas. VettaFi’s team helps formalize rulebooks, conduct backtesting, and evaluate liquidity and turnover considerations, supported by a robust technology stack designed to operate more efficiently than many competitors. 

Key Funds Powered by VettaFi Indices

Rosenbluth emphasized that indexing is not a “set it and forget it” exercise. Instead, helping partners differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded ETF market with more than 4,000 products requires ongoing management and education. Rosenbluth highlighted several notable ETFs that reflect the growth and reach of the firm’s indexing capabilities:

Innovation in an Oversaturated Index Landscape

Rosenbluth also addressed the evolving role of thematic ETFs in portfolios. He stressed the importance of analyzing portfolio overlap and underlying exposures to ensure themes enhance, rather than duplicate, existing allocations. He identified artificial intelligence and nuclear energy as key thematic areas attracting strong investor demand and noted that advisors typically allocate 5–10% of portfolios to thematic strategies, often spreading that exposure across two or three distinct themes.

Aakash Doshi on Gold Market Dynamics and ETF Inflows

Aakash Doshi discussed the key drivers behind gold’s record performance, including strong physical demand from China and central banks, record ETF inflows, and macroeconomic factors like a weaker U.S. dollar, inflation uncertainty, and fiscal policy concerns. He explained how these factors have created a “perfect storm” for gold prices. Akash also highlighted the role of gold as a portfolio diversifier, its historical performance, and compared gold with bitcoin, noting that both can coexist in a portfolio but serve different purposes. 

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