1 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:08,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Trillions. I'm Joel Weber and I'm Marik Belchers. 2 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: Eric Carolina Wilson's a reporter with Bloomberg News. She's on 3 00:00:14,360 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: the show a lot. She did some great et F reporting, 4 00:00:16,520 --> 00:00:18,959 Speaker 1: and she came with an idea for a podcast episode recently, 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: which was q q Q, which just turned twenty and 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,439 Speaker 1: we're like, that's a really good idea. Yeah, it made 7 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:26,640 Speaker 1: us think of one of these in the field type 8 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: episodes that Rachel Evans has done a couple of times, 9 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: where you take the mic out and you just see 10 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:33,360 Speaker 1: what happens. And I thought, you know, the cues is 11 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 1: a monster ETF. Most people focused on Spy, which I 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: believe turned twenty five recently. That was a whole deal, 13 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: but the cues is right up there. I mean I 14 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: put it on the mount rushmore of E t F 15 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: s and what is it? The cues is the NASTAC 16 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: one hundred. So this is this is remember the nineties 17 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: and the tech This is when the Nastac was a 18 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: big deal. All these stocks were on there. But the 19 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: cues has changed since then, although again it's still I 20 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,400 Speaker 1: think widely used for tech play growth, play um and 21 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 1: it trades ton like multiple billions of dollars every day. 22 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: It's a total stud but it's probably got some things 23 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: about it that most people just don't know about or 24 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,040 Speaker 1: take for granted. One being that it used to be 25 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:13,520 Speaker 1: very big on tech and it's become less so over time. 26 00:01:13,959 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: So we gave currently on a microphone and center out 27 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: to the field, and here's what we meant this week 28 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: on trying the cues at twenty. This is probably the 29 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: most awkward thing I'm gonna have you just asking them 30 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:34,199 Speaker 1: to say the alphabet and stop when they get a QUE. 31 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:42,800 Speaker 1: So that's gracious. A B, C, D, E, F G, 32 00:01:43,760 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: H I, J K, element O P Q. Over the 33 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: course of history, the letter Q has taken on many 34 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: different meanings. Perhaps the most obvious Q is the seventeenth 35 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: letter of the modern English alphabet. Some say the form 36 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,240 Speaker 1: of the letter could have been bay on the island, needle, 37 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: a not, or even a monkey with its tail hanging down. 38 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: Others have suggested that the origin is even more ancient, 39 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,400 Speaker 1: maybe having been born from Egyptian hieroglyphics. But for the 40 00:02:14,440 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: trillion dollar exchange traded fund industry, the letter Q takes 41 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: on its own unique meaning. You see the Investo q 42 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,720 Speaker 1: Q Trust Series one e TF, known by its ticker 43 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: q q Q, is without a doubt, one of the 44 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: most recognizable tickers around and a bye word for technology investing. 45 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,799 Speaker 1: Weighing in at just over seventy two billion dollars, q 46 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,639 Speaker 1: q Q is the world's sixth largest e t F 47 00:02:38,760 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: in terms of assets. It's also the second most traded 48 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,760 Speaker 1: ticker among the universe of more than t f s, 49 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: and not too long ago, it's celebrated its twentieth birthday. 50 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: So I dived deeper into q q q's history and 51 00:02:58,120 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 1: learned how an e t F that was poster child 52 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: for the dot com boom is no longer really a 53 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:07,000 Speaker 1: tech ETF, and how this mammoth of a fund is 54 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: a window into how presumably passive vehicles are actually living, 55 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: breathing organisms that are actively changing and evolving with markets. 56 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: To talk about the origin of q q Q, commonly 57 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: known as the Queues, I'll have to take you back 58 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: to the man who created its underlying index, the NASDAC one. 59 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: Meet John Jacobs. He was running strategic planning at NASDAC 60 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,320 Speaker 1: and one of the things he realized was that the 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: brand perception among retail investors was very low about the NASDAK, 62 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: so we set about trying to figure out how to 63 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: change their perception, raising awareness and as it can change 64 00:03:46,680 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: their perception. One of the ideas we came up with 65 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:50,920 Speaker 1: and the strategic planning team that I was running in 66 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: Nasdaq was um let's come up with a NASDAC branded 67 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: financial product. And when we looked around there was something 68 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: that had been lost a few years early, or the Spider, 69 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: which was the first g t F on the on 70 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: the sp so we started following the footsteps to create 71 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: this one. So the original exercise that became q q 72 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: Q was more of a branding exercise, much more than 73 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: trying to build an index business. But along with branding 74 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: power came a unique nuance with q q q's revenue model. 75 00:04:21,960 --> 00:04:23,960 Speaker 1: The first e t f s that came out like 76 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: the ques, were unit investment trusts. For the expense ratio, 77 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: there's a chunk that went to the trustee, someone to 78 00:04:31,600 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: the adaman, and some money went to marketing. But there's 79 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 1: essentially no way to make money if you are the 80 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:41,360 Speaker 1: product sponsor. This made it difficult to sell q q 81 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: Q over to Power Shares Capital Management, which was bought 82 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: by Investco in late two thousand and six, the current 83 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: home of q q Q. To learn about that hesitancy, 84 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: I spoke to Bruce Bond, who helped start power Shares 85 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: back in two thousand two the q q Q. It 86 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:00,960 Speaker 1: was very difficult to talk invest Goo into actually acquiring 87 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,279 Speaker 1: the q Q at the time, and the reason it 88 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: was allowing me to buy at power Shares was that UM. 89 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:14,039 Speaker 1: You know, the the q q Q was not doesn't 90 00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: generate any revenue for the firm that owns it. What 91 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: it does have those it had a ten basis point 92 00:05:20,480 --> 00:05:24,679 Speaker 1: marketing fee that allows you to market the fund. And 93 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:28,040 Speaker 1: so what we did was when we acquired it, we 94 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: struck a new agreement with NASAC for the licensing of 95 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:35,559 Speaker 1: the index from Nastac. We we acquired the fund and 96 00:05:35,960 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: UM and use the remaining marketing fee to market what 97 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 1: We changed the name of the fund from the nastac 98 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: ONKU to the Power Shares k K and which gave 99 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: power Shares a tremendous amount of visibility and marketing and 100 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,559 Speaker 1: advertising power and a built in resource to be able 101 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:59,279 Speaker 1: to elevate the name of power Shares in the industry. 102 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: Since you were some of those marketing dollars were going, 103 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:05,720 Speaker 1: I headed over to the Chicago area and Investco's headquarters 104 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 1: in Downers Grove, Illinois. That's how I ended up at 105 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: the Lincoln Park suit. His name is sounds like a name. Yes, 106 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,240 Speaker 1: her name is Molika and her name is is something 107 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: that and the ques do seem to be infused in 108 00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 1: the Chicago culture. The fund sponsors the Zoo's annual Light 109 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: Show Spectacular, the current headlining performance at the Lyric Opera 110 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:42,839 Speaker 1: of Chicago, golf tournaments, tennis tournaments. They've even sponsored the 111 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: first race of the NASCAR Exfinity Series season, a three 112 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: hundred mile long annual race held at the Daytona International 113 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: Speedway called the Power Shares q q Q three hundreds. 114 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: The letter Q even makes a special appearance in the 115 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:04,800 Speaker 1: name of Investco's current q q Q strategist. Listen to this. 116 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: So I am John Frank. I enjoyed Investco in April, 117 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: and I am the q q Q strategist. So you 118 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,160 Speaker 1: missed your middle initial there though I did. It's actually 119 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: it's actually John Q Frank, which when I was interviewing 120 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: for the role to become the QKQ strategist, I think 121 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 1: my manager really enjoyed that. I think maybe that got 122 00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: you the job. Honestly, yeah, I think I wouldn't. I 123 00:07:27,480 --> 00:07:31,160 Speaker 1: wouldn't disagree. While q q Q was a poster child 124 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: for technology investing when it launched, the funds holdings have 125 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: evolved significantly over time. How much tech there actually is 126 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: in q q Q is one question that John has 127 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: to tackle a lot. And the idea that the cues 128 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: are pure tech play is almost like a widely believed myth. 129 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 1: So a lot of my role is about spelling those 130 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: myths or trying to maybe gravitate people to what maybe 131 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: more truth is than what they think. And the idea 132 00:07:57,360 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: that six Q is in technology, I think it is 133 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: is quite a surprise for people. Now. Some of that 134 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: is due to the gifts classification change, but that's still 135 00:08:04,280 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: only a part of the story. There's a consumer, discretionary, 136 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: consumer staples, healthcare, so there's a lot of things besides 137 00:08:09,720 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: technology in there. And I just going through the second 138 00:08:11,880 --> 00:08:15,040 Speaker 1: allocation over time. Now, in the height of the tech bubble, 139 00:08:15,280 --> 00:08:18,400 Speaker 1: there was a greater allocation technology, call it close to 140 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:22,080 Speaker 1: pushing almost not quite, and again today we're closer to 141 00:08:22,360 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: just about four percent technology. It's it's definitely change over time, 142 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 1: but it's not a percent technology. And I asked John, 143 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:31,840 Speaker 1: here are the queues one of the largest e t 144 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: f s a presumably passive trading vehicle, even though it's 145 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:39,840 Speaker 1: been the go to strategy for technology investing and still 146 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:43,080 Speaker 1: is today. The makeup of the fund has changed so 147 00:08:43,160 --> 00:08:46,439 Speaker 1: much over time. Can we really say that q q 148 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: Q is truly passive? The debate ten years ago was 149 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:51,920 Speaker 1: active for passive and I think today it's much more 150 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: complicated than that because as a as a fund that 151 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: uses market KIP, market capitalization is one of its primary 152 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:01,080 Speaker 1: determinants of what the weight is in the portfolio. In reality, 153 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: it could be quite active compared to the market portfolio. 154 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,640 Speaker 1: Someone might consider at all World Equity portfolio or the 155 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,959 Speaker 1: SPF A hundred to be the market. Q q Q 156 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:14,040 Speaker 1: as a quote unquote passive product is actually quite different 157 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,839 Speaker 1: than the market portfolio. And I think that has to 158 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: do with what's not in the portfolio is what what's 159 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: in the portfolio. So you see overweight certain names that 160 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: the portfolio holds but also doesn't hurt hold certain sectors. 161 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,560 Speaker 1: There's no financials, there's not a lot of energy, not 162 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: a lot of utilities. So the end of the day, 163 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: you have a portfolio that we can behave quite differently 164 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:35,439 Speaker 1: than the standard equity markets, and it's still passive and 165 00:09:35,520 --> 00:09:38,439 Speaker 1: how it's managed, but in reality the exposures you're getting 166 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 1: are not or anything but passive. Another myth that John 167 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: has to dispel surrounding the queues is whether or not 168 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,040 Speaker 1: the market is ramping up to hit a tech bubble 169 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:51,319 Speaker 1: two point oh, especially as the likes of Apple, Microsoft, 170 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,440 Speaker 1: and Google have seen prices skyrocket. And to John, the 171 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: concerns makes sense, but he thinks it helps to look 172 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: at q q Q today and compare it to the 173 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: fund back then. So he compares today's market to the 174 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,199 Speaker 1: actual tech bubble. Let's call it March two thousand. The 175 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: evaluations are completely different. And one of the things we 176 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: looked at was just look at the five largest companies 177 00:10:16,280 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 1: in QQQ at that time compared to the five largest 178 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 1: companies today. So one of the things we did was, 179 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:23,200 Speaker 1: instead of getting pe ratio for the whole fund, if 180 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 1: we just look at those five largest companies in the 181 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: height of the tech bubble, so call it Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Oracle, IBM. 182 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: As a group, they actually traded at about close to 183 00:10:33,840 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: eighty times their market cap over net income a proxy 184 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:41,000 Speaker 1: for a P ratio, where today we look at app, Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, 185 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: Microsoft on Facebook and go back to the end of September, 186 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: which was really the height of this year, and that 187 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,439 Speaker 1: group was trading at thirty eight and a half times. 188 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,839 Speaker 1: So those stocks could have gone up a pent in 189 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: one day and still would have been trading cheaper from 190 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: a perspective of mac market captain net income and the 191 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:58,680 Speaker 1: tech bubble. So it's not to say that they are 192 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:02,679 Speaker 1: it's screaming value, but they're not anywhere near the tech bubble. 193 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: So the idea that we're anywhere near the tech bubble 194 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,640 Speaker 1: hysteria heights is far off. We could get there, but 195 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,439 Speaker 1: we need a couple hundred percent days or weeks to 196 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: get to that type of level. But for some investors, 197 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: the recent run up in technology stocks does bring about 198 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,160 Speaker 1: deja vu, even if the bubble hasn't quite reached its 199 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:25,160 Speaker 1: popping point. Someone you heard from earlier, NAZDAC founder John Jacobs, 200 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,520 Speaker 1: says he knows what to look out for. He recalls 201 00:11:28,600 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: one morning when his mother called him about a trade 202 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: she wanted to execute on the fund. Her son Johnny started. Look, 203 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: my mom in her seventies became a day trader in 204 00:11:39,360 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: the queues. So I'm sitting in my office in d C. 205 00:11:42,520 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: And my phone lights up and I had this new 206 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:46,120 Speaker 1: feature caller. I d again, it's that a long time 207 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: ago two thousand and that was my parents home number 208 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:49,760 Speaker 1: and my mom, I said, Mom, I was just getting 209 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: ready to call you. You know, seventy two year old 210 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,320 Speaker 1: one brokerage account. I said, Mom, I was just getting 211 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: ready to call you about something. And she goes, never 212 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:57,280 Speaker 1: mind that now, Johnny, I want to let you know 213 00:11:57,280 --> 00:11:59,319 Speaker 1: what I did this morning. I caught up swab and 214 00:11:59,360 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 1: it put her pre market open limit order in on 215 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: the cues. Because I think it's gonna pop at the 216 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:07,000 Speaker 1: open I want to flip it. I'm like, oh my god, 217 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: I should have known it was the boom. I should 218 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:10,520 Speaker 1: have known it was the bus right then. So here 219 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,319 Speaker 1: my mom is seven two years old. She become a 220 00:12:12,400 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: day trader on margin the pre market in the queues 221 00:12:14,559 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: because it's gonna pop, but she wants to flip it again. 222 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 1: This is like the same thing when this hueshine boys 223 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:21,719 Speaker 1: giving you stock tips, or you know, the kid in 224 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: the corners telling you about cryptocurrencies. I can recognize the 225 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:36,880 Speaker 1: bubble Caroly and Happy Birthday cues. Welcome back to the show. 226 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,480 Speaker 1: I guess thank you. Uh. First of all, I just 227 00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 1: gotta say I love the background on the letter Q. 228 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:44,839 Speaker 1: I first I didn't know all that. What is it? 229 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,800 Speaker 1: The monkey dangling from a tree hanging down. Yeah, it's amazing. 230 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: But here's the thing I wanted to know, which is 231 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:55,359 Speaker 1: why did he have threeques? So originally, actually John Jacobs, 232 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:57,199 Speaker 1: who you heard from at the beginning and at the 233 00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,280 Speaker 1: end of the podcast, he wanted a single character ticker. 234 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,480 Speaker 1: He just wanted it to be Q. There was the 235 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: sort of unspoken rule that they couldn't do that, so 236 00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: he was like, you know what. He even printed out 237 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,359 Speaker 1: like fifty perspectuses with just Q and then fifty perspectuses 238 00:13:10,400 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: with Q q Q, and they ended up going with 239 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: the triple q's. But then, um, it actually went to 240 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: four ques at one point, so it was q q 241 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: q Q and then it went back to three ques. 242 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: And it's funny people say that you can tell when 243 00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:26,320 Speaker 1: they invested in the queues depending on how they refer 244 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:27,760 Speaker 1: to it. So if they refer to it as the 245 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:31,160 Speaker 1: cubes or the quad cues UM. That's because it was 246 00:13:31,200 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: when it was the four letter ticker. A lot of 247 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: people just call it the cues or q q q Y. 248 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:37,800 Speaker 1: If you see some of these old heads at the 249 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:42,000 Speaker 1: E T F conferences, they will drop a cube's diamonds, cubes, vipers. 250 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: It's it's evolved a lot since then, but that's how 251 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:47,160 Speaker 1: you kind of know. And they may also put the 252 00:13:47,400 --> 00:13:50,679 Speaker 1: before ticker like the E E M. That's that's sort 253 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 1: of how you know, the sort of old school folks, 254 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: uh that maybe we're in industry in the nineties, before 255 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,079 Speaker 1: we started recording, we were joking around about personifying some 256 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:01,199 Speaker 1: et F s and for me, a challenge with this 257 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: podcast and with this project was like, Okay, I'm going 258 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: to take this fund that's a mammoth in the industry. 259 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,920 Speaker 1: Everyone knows about it, sixties six billion and a U 260 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:15,440 Speaker 1: m about um second most traded after Spy, so everyone 261 00:14:15,520 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: knows about it. How am I going to surprise people 262 00:14:17,760 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: about this? Like? How am I going to go out 263 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:21,680 Speaker 1: and report on this and find things that people don't 264 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:24,440 Speaker 1: know but you did, which was the surprise is that 265 00:14:24,520 --> 00:14:27,080 Speaker 1: it doesn't have as much tech as people think exactly. Yeah, 266 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 1: that that was a huge surprise, and and the way 267 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: to go about it was that I had to treat 268 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:32,280 Speaker 1: it like a person. I was like, I'm going to 269 00:14:32,400 --> 00:14:36,080 Speaker 1: go out and like just report of this, like biographical 270 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:40,160 Speaker 1: feature on this, hold on, hold on. So personifying e 271 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: t S is when you cross the line into where 272 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 1: I live, which is scary. You don't want to start 273 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: looking at them as people. I just just giving you 274 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: a fair warning sort of more like a ghost, I 275 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: would say, which is even creepier probably, But okay, So 276 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,960 Speaker 1: if it's not in tech, what is it in now? Basically, 277 00:14:57,080 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 1: so you have to remember that now is like one 278 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: hundred is just tracking the one hundred largest non financial companies. 279 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: So that's and that's really the only thing that's been 280 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:07,280 Speaker 1: completely consistent with the funds since the beginning of time. 281 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,880 Speaker 1: It's it's just not tracking any financials. But yeah, it 282 00:15:09,960 --> 00:15:12,520 Speaker 1: was about at the height of the tech bubble. It's 283 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: now around that was dropped in there, right the gigs 284 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: what is that? The gigs re classification was something that 285 00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 1: happened that basically reclassified some of the just traditionally known 286 00:15:23,200 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 1: tech names as being in the communication services like Facebook 287 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: exactly like some of those mat myths, but but still, 288 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: I mean the cues really are a poster child for 289 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: tech investing. They still are. Yeah, And when I was 290 00:15:35,800 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: in data, we grappled with whether to call the cues 291 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: a sector tech or not. That's a big difference because 292 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 1: then you look at tech flows, if the cues are 293 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: in there or not, it changes the whole number by 294 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: a lot. And uh, ultimately, I do we do have 295 00:15:48,200 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: them in tech for now because we do feel like 296 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: what are people using them for? And I think most 297 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: people still connotatively are using them for tech. But you 298 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,360 Speaker 1: could debate this for a while because right now I 299 00:15:57,400 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: think it's tech so shockingly low tech to be in 300 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: the tech sector. Um, some of these decisions are tough 301 00:16:03,320 --> 00:16:06,120 Speaker 1: when you're making the taxonomy in data and so who's 302 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:09,840 Speaker 1: been kind of noticed that as an opportunity because if 303 00:16:09,880 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: it's like a tech fund that everyone associates with, the 304 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: tech fund that doesn't have that much tech in it, 305 00:16:14,280 --> 00:16:16,160 Speaker 1: that seems like a market opportunity for somebody else to 306 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: come along and say, hey, I'm actually tech. And there 307 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: are there are a lot of funds that have just 308 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: pure tech exposure to them. But you have to remember 309 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,080 Speaker 1: sort of the liquidity that comes with the Cues, the 310 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: branding power that it has a familiarity that people have. 311 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,040 Speaker 1: But again, like the largest it's still pretty fang heavy 312 00:16:33,080 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: and fang driven, so people will turn to it for 313 00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: for exposure to those names. And we had Dan Draper 314 00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: on E T f i Q, which is on every 315 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 1: Wednesday at one pm just um and this is last 316 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: week actually, and we asked him about the Cues you 317 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: were on with them actually um, and what he said 318 00:16:48,120 --> 00:16:49,960 Speaker 1: something very interesting because he was trying to sort of 319 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 1: give another reason why you'd use this fund besides just 320 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: quick tech exposure. And he said that there's a lot 321 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: of growth in this index and that the R and 322 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: D as a whole spent on the companies and the 323 00:17:00,880 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: Cues was double that of the companies in the SMP 324 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: five hundred. That's a powerful statement and I think that 325 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: leads to the the growthy aspect of the cues and ran. Yeah, 326 00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 1: that's right. That's also something that John Frank who is 327 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: the current strategist of the Cues, which also when I 328 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: want to interview him, I was like, how easy is 329 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 1: this man's job? Like he this dude sits there and 330 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: he manages the cues, which is a super well oiled, 331 00:17:24,560 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: like huge, self like running machine. But actually he gets 332 00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:30,640 Speaker 1: a ton of questions. It's like it's a lot of work. 333 00:17:30,680 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: I mean, the research that this guy knows about this 334 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:35,679 Speaker 1: fund is incredible. R and D is something he totally 335 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:37,440 Speaker 1: talked about. He said. One of the things he does 336 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:40,119 Speaker 1: is he compares the NASTAC a hundred one hundred two 337 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:43,119 Speaker 1: other indexes whole look at the NASTAC one hundreds higher 338 00:17:43,560 --> 00:17:45,600 Speaker 1: R and D spend relatives. So if we look at 339 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,359 Speaker 1: R and D spending as a percentage of sales for 340 00:17:48,400 --> 00:17:50,639 Speaker 1: these companies, you're right, Eric, nine percent of sales went 341 00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: to R and D for the NASTACK a hundred constituents. 342 00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,159 Speaker 1: That's more than twice of that for any other comparable index. 343 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: And that's a big deal in this because everybody is 344 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: talking about there's some controversy over buy backs, and some 345 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: people are looking for companies that do more, you know, 346 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: spending on R and D and that kind of thing 347 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 1: and not just buying back shares. So that's a pretty 348 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:10,880 Speaker 1: good selling point, especially for those who are a little, 349 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,920 Speaker 1: uh not uneasy about buy backs being the source of return. 350 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: That's actually really intericing um. And you know when a 351 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: product is a smash hit. Just like the movie business, 352 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:24,359 Speaker 1: it spawns sequels and copycats. Right, So their cues, I like, 353 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: for one, I'll think of as q q q E, 354 00:18:26,920 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: which is the equal way to cuse because the cues 355 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:30,840 Speaker 1: does have a lot of allocation to a couple of 356 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:34,920 Speaker 1: companies I think Apple might be, So there's equal way 357 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: to cuse. What are some other examples where they try 358 00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: to steal some of the cues? Um, you know audience 359 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: with dropping a queue in the ticker to make people think, oh, 360 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:45,720 Speaker 1: this is like kind of a tech quli play on 361 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:47,920 Speaker 1: this other area. So e m q q is one 362 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:53,560 Speaker 1: that's emerging markets tech Um, there's t q q q 363 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:56,640 Speaker 1: I believe, which is a leveraged version of the que. 364 00:18:56,800 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: So they do sort of try and piggyback off of 365 00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,560 Speaker 1: this brand because it's such a monster. It's sort of 366 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,720 Speaker 1: like what other sticks can we come up with here? Exactly? 367 00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: It's like like the comic book Avengers, you know, all 368 00:19:08,520 --> 00:19:11,960 Speaker 1: these spinoffs and so just taking a bigger step back, 369 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: you traveled out to Chicago, right or in the suburbs 370 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,119 Speaker 1: of Chicago, just talk about being out there at an 371 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 1: e t F is shu or what does an E. T. F. 372 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,439 Speaker 1: Fishuer's office look like and what's going on over there? 373 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: So it's massive. It's in Downers Grove, Illinois, which is 374 00:19:25,760 --> 00:19:29,119 Speaker 1: pretty a little ways way outside of downtown Chicago, but 375 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: it's a huge, huge office oranges everywhere you can see it. 376 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:37,000 Speaker 1: In Dan Draper's office, he has even just like the 377 00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: front of a NASCAR car hood that's orange and I 378 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: think it has the Cues on it because the Cues 379 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:47,280 Speaker 1: sponsored a NASA car race for a while. But it's 380 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:48,480 Speaker 1: sort of I mean, when when you go in you 381 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:50,480 Speaker 1: do a profile, either on a person or on a 382 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,119 Speaker 1: fund like this, you have to find like it's footprints everywhere, right, 383 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: and so it is sort of scattered throughout and I 384 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: had to sort of track it and follow it throughout Chicago. 385 00:19:57,960 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: So I also went to the zoo, as you know, 386 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:01,400 Speaker 1: and you heard I spent a lot of time. They're 387 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,879 Speaker 1: trying to capture lion sounds and lion roars because they 388 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: also have some um sort of marketing partnerships with the 389 00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: zoo there. But but it has made its way into 390 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: all these different little aspects of the community and sort 391 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 1: of social life in Chicago, and I think they also 392 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 1: do uh tennis tournament because one time we did an 393 00:20:18,160 --> 00:20:22,080 Speaker 1: event with power Shares where Bloomberg presented power Shares and 394 00:20:22,160 --> 00:20:24,239 Speaker 1: at the end of the event they gave away they 395 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 1: uh tennis rackets signed by I think Jim Courier, remember him. 396 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: I think he won two majors. That's to make sure 397 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:33,680 Speaker 1: you stayed at the end of the event, of course, 398 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 1: and I thought that was pretty high end. I was 399 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: really excited. I was not allowed to enter it because 400 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:44,600 Speaker 1: I was a presenter. Tennis, Yeah, tennis, golf. Um, let's 401 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,960 Speaker 1: wait for the Super Bowl partnership. By the way, this 402 00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the t s. But you 403 00:20:49,880 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: gotta lie in to roar. I mean, did you do that? 404 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: I've been at the zoo many times. Those lions just 405 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: lay there, usually far off behind a log and you 406 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: can't see them, and the kids like lion linon Lion 407 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: line line and it's like it's kind of underwhelming, and 408 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:03,159 Speaker 1: you saw them roar. How that work out? I just 409 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:08,919 Speaker 1: yelled out cues. No, I spent a lot of time 410 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: at the zoo that day. Actually, it's have to say 411 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,840 Speaker 1: their patients is the key. I can't believe that it's free. 412 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: You just really there are people that jog through there, 413 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: you walk through there, it's it's absolutely beautiful. Um and 414 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:21,800 Speaker 1: the Lions they put on a nice performance for me, 415 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: they really did. Speaking of performances, how's it done since inception? 416 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,879 Speaker 1: So it came out March's interesting, yeah, right before the 417 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 1: bullber so Um. This is including that it's up three 418 00:21:34,600 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: hundred thirty six percent since inception. The SMP five hundred 419 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:42,280 Speaker 1: since that same exact point is only up two So 420 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,240 Speaker 1: it's got our performance by about hundred nine percent since then. 421 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,360 Speaker 1: But here's what's wild. Since the financial crisis, so we'll 422 00:21:49,359 --> 00:21:51,840 Speaker 1: start the beginning of two thousand nine, the CUES has 423 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:55,199 Speaker 1: literally doubled the SMP. It's up six percent versus three 424 00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: for the SMP. That's big time, especially for a diversified 425 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:02,200 Speaker 1: sort of larger index. But it also speaks to what 426 00:22:02,480 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: tech has done in that same period. It's just crushed 427 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 1: it absolutely, that's I mean, this is part of the 428 00:22:07,720 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: reason it's so beloved. People made a lot of money 429 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:13,440 Speaker 1: on it. Carolyne, thanks again for joining us and joining 430 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,679 Speaker 1: on behalf of me and the Queues. You're welcome. Thanks 431 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,560 Speaker 1: thanks for listening to the trillance. Until next time, you 432 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: can find us on the Bloomberg Terminal, Bloomberg dot com, 433 00:22:29,400 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever else you'd like to listen. 434 00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:36,200 Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. We're on Twitter, I'm 435 00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: at Joel Webber Show, He's at Eric Paul Tunas, and 436 00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:45,160 Speaker 1: you can find Carolyna Wilson at carol E. Wilson. Trillions 437 00:22:45,240 --> 00:22:48,639 Speaker 1: is produced by Magnus and Rickson. Francesca Levy is the 438 00:22:48,680 --> 00:22:50,920 Speaker 1: head of Bloomberg podcast. Bye