As advisors explore 2026 ETF Trends, Exchange presented a session covering top-of-mind stories. The session featured members from Women in ETFs, that inlcuded J.P. Morgan’s Julie Abbett, American Century Investments’ Cleo Chang, Fidelity Investments’ Lubna Lundy, and moderator Roxanna Islam from VettaFi, who unpacked the state of ETF markets in 2026.

As artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure debt floods bond markets, investors face a new risk landscape shaped by complex financing structures and potential overbuilding across the data center ecosystem.

Supported in part by a growing U.S. defense budget, legacy aerospace and defense ETFs are performing admirably. A trio of those funds each have more than doubled over the past three years.

State Street Investment Management is continuing its push into the intersection of public and private credit with the launch of a new ETF.

Soaring oil prices and the military conflict in Iran are among the primary reasons the MSCI EAFE Index is off nearly 6% over the past month.

Japan is a major oil importer. That explains the vulnerabilities of the country’s equity market to conflict in Iran. Over the past month, the MSCI Japan Index is off about 2%.

2026 has kicked off with investors on the lookout for opportunities in a broadening market. While tech remains an important part of countless investor portfolios, it’s not the only category offering opportunities.

Global conflict has erupted in 2026, from South America to the Middle East. With energy at the center of the picture, markets face potentially serious volatility.

Data center developers plan to reduce their reliance on utility grids by investing in onsite power for rapidly scaling facilities. The shift creates opportunities for electrification infrastructure providers as energy independence takes on new urgency.

Thematic exchange traded fund assets in the U.S. have surged from $22 billion in 2015 to over $193 billion today, but not all thematic funds deliver on their promises, according to a new FactSet analysis.

As investors navigate an increasingly complex market, the demand for sophisticated, outcome-oriented ETF strategies has reached a significant inflection point. Goldman Sachs Asset Management is seeing strong success in this space, evolving its suite of derivative-based ETFs to meet the diverse needs of modern portfolios.

As the market continues to move deeper into the first quarter of 2026, the fixed income landscape calls for more stability.

Amid perceived artificial intelligence (AI) threats, cybersecurity stocks are enduring quite a rough patch. However, there are alternative viewpoints.

The most-read articles on Advisor Perspectives for February covered an eclectic mix of interesting topics, ranging from whether money can buy happiness to what a depreciating dollar could mean for investors.

Artificial intelligence has become one of the defining investment themes of this cycle. Yes, we may be hearing about the AI pullback as a valuation reset. However, that doesn’t change the underlying scale of adoption for this theme. And that’s evident even “under the hood” of ETFs.

February data shows investors abandoning growth strategies for cyclical sectors as value funds attract $15 billion in new assets.

Energy is among the smallest sectors in the S&P 500, representing only about 3.5% of the benchmark’s sector allocations, and yet, it’s energy that’s capturing investor attention this year. A big part of the story centers on oil and natural gas, now in sharp focus due to an ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

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.