1 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:12,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Trillions. I'm Joel Webber and I'm Eric bell Tunis. Eric, 2 00:00:12,560 --> 00:00:15,800 Speaker 1: can you cut your own hair yet? No, it's just 3 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: it's growing out. I haven't even I haven't shaved. I uh, 4 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: I'm just going forward. I'm going for that look. Remember 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,280 Speaker 1: in the movie The Doors, Jim Morrison towards the end 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:27,840 Speaker 1: when he's got the pot belly and the long hair 7 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: and the beard. That's that's sort of where I'm headed. 8 00:00:30,400 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: So you're quitting yourself to Jim Morrison pretty much. Yeah, 9 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: I feel I feel pretty clean though, and I feel 10 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:40,199 Speaker 1: pretty good, but I'm in the days. Jim Morrison is 11 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: maybe not the one you want to go with. But otherwise, 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:45,919 Speaker 1: how are you holding up? I gotta be honest. Like 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,920 Speaker 1: we've gotten into bike riding. That seems to be like 14 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: a nice way to social distance. If with my oldest son, 15 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: you ride bikes and there's no cars, so you go 16 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: in the middle of the road pretty much. Uh, these 17 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: are small streets where the cars would be going fast anyway. 18 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: If a car comes, you dive into the sidewalk, and 19 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:03,680 Speaker 1: then you see a person, you dive into the street. 20 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,480 Speaker 1: And we've had fun doing that all weekend, and so 21 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: we're being creative in how to get out, but I'm 22 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: getting a little cabin fever. I can't wait for things 23 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: to open back up. How about you. I can't wait 24 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: for you to buy me a sushi lunch at some point, 25 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: and you know, maybe the summer. That sounds good. But hey, Eric, 26 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: I'm really excited about today's guest. It's Jon Vanek of 27 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: van Eck. What's been going on in his world? Well, 28 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 1: Vanek has come up quite a bit, but also we've 29 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: had an analyst and a reporter on the last two 30 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: episodes since the crisis started and all the selling and everything, 31 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: and you know, it's nice to have an issue where 32 00:01:37,319 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: somebody who's on the front lines dealing with client inquiries 33 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: trying to make sure the funds right run properly. Really 34 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: just to get his perspective on that. Now, the bonuses 35 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: Vaneck is UH has some ETFs that are just acutely 36 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: connected to what we've been seeing with the FED and 37 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,360 Speaker 1: the discounts and UH in video games, UH those stocks 38 00:01:58,360 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 1: have been doing great. They have a video game et 39 00:01:59,720 --> 00:02:01,760 Speaker 1: We'll get to all of it. But so there's a 40 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: couple levels of why I think he's the perfect guest 41 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:13,280 Speaker 1: for today, this time on trillions. Jan vneck Yahn, Welcome 42 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,720 Speaker 1: to trillions. Thanks so good to be here. So, like 43 00:02:16,880 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Eric said, here, we've talked to a reporter, uh, an analyst, 44 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: but we haven't talked to somebody in your shoes on 45 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,919 Speaker 1: the issuer side. And especially with the FED becoming such 46 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 1: a player in e t F s of late, really 47 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: fascinated about your perspective on on that, Like, here's this 48 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: whale coming into the market, um, and what's your perspective 49 00:02:36,280 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: on that as an issue? Well, it's it's it was 50 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: really shocking what happened Thursday before Easter, right, the huge 51 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: announcement by the FED really rocked the credit markets, and 52 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: you even saw some high LDTs trading at premiums to 53 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,000 Speaker 1: their prior day and n A v s. So the way, 54 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: if you and I haven't read all the language, but 55 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: if you look at what they're trying to accomplish, it's 56 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: tilted towards investment grade and everything. But I was saying 57 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: today earlier today, it's sort of like a really fat 58 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: elephant trying to be super delicate and tiptoeing through the 59 00:03:10,880 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: credit markets. It's would be surprising if it was done well. 60 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:17,880 Speaker 1: Let me ask you about this because the FED in 61 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,000 Speaker 1: their announcement we called the one in Marche the kitchen sink. 62 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:23,679 Speaker 1: That's when they went after investment grade corporates. You saw 63 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: l q D take off. This next one we're just 64 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,799 Speaker 1: loosely referring to is the bathroom sinc. They're gonna try 65 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 1: to make sure they catch the fallen angels. These are 66 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 1: bonds that get downgraded from investment grade to high yield 67 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: double bees. Now you have fun ang L. We Morgan 68 00:03:39,040 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: Barnett and James on My team wrote this morning talking 69 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: about how ang L is like a glass slipper. It's 70 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: the perfect fit for what they're after. But it seems 71 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: like they're gonna probably use h y G, which only 72 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:55,720 Speaker 1: has half double bees um and maybe that's not a 73 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: perfect fit, but it's a bigger, more liquid one. What's 74 00:03:58,120 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: your take on what they should do here in terms 75 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: of any e t F they buy, the less the 76 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: better as far as I'm concerned, I mean, I understand 77 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: that half of the credit and our economy goes through 78 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: bonds and not through the formal banking system, and that 79 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:16,000 Speaker 1: they that credit was falling apart, that system was falling apart, 80 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:19,799 Speaker 1: but really you know, we know that people are taking 81 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: risk and making markets around our ets to make them 82 00:04:22,480 --> 00:04:25,160 Speaker 1: function as well as they can for long term shareholders. 83 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't take a lot of money. Even 84 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: the fear of the FED coming in and knocking your 85 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 1: positions out drove prices I think on last Thursday. So 86 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,800 Speaker 1: by far, the less the better. And if Angel is 87 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,279 Speaker 1: not part of their buying program, that's a positive as 88 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned. And this isn't the first time, 89 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: you know, a central bank has gotten involved with E 90 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,039 Speaker 1: t F And you know, look at Japan and and 91 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:50,960 Speaker 1: sort of the role the central bank has played there. 92 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: What do you think the FED has learned from the 93 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,840 Speaker 1: Japanese experiment there well? And then this is the time 94 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: of radical central bank intervention and where we haven't gone yet. 95 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: I'm interested in what Eric's analogy is going to be 96 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: is when they start buying equities or equity E t 97 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:08,160 Speaker 1: F s UM. I don't know if you've got a 98 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:10,560 Speaker 1: room left in the house for that, but uh, you know, 99 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: I think I think we're pivoting more off of the 100 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: O eight O nine experience where we realized that UM 101 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,960 Speaker 1: the government needed to come in to make sure that 102 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: the pipes weren't clogged in terms of the flow of credit, 103 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,960 Speaker 1: that that was just going to kill the economy even further. 104 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: And I think they were. They were right at a 105 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: high level. And I think I'm not sure how much 106 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:36,239 Speaker 1: they're really buying into MMT and the experience of Japan 107 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: UM in Europe. I hope not too much, because that 108 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,760 Speaker 1: really distorted asset prices. And one scenario that I'm not 109 00:05:43,800 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: sure people are thinking about too much is what happened 110 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: after O eight oh nine was a big asset melt up. Right. 111 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: Can you imagine the economy running it's of capacity but 112 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: asset prices exploding. I think that would have some some 113 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:02,119 Speaker 1: interesting political consequences. The e t F buying, it looks 114 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:04,480 Speaker 1: like it might be a couple of billion. You know, 115 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: they could buy, say up to twenty six billion of 116 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: bond ETFs if they do max out, but they probably won't. 117 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,839 Speaker 1: I think the real interesting thing here is I think 118 00:06:14,839 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: the flows into l q D and h y G 119 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,159 Speaker 1: is probably front running just of the underlying bond buying. 120 00:06:20,839 --> 00:06:23,440 Speaker 1: The other part I would I would also talk about 121 00:06:23,560 --> 00:06:26,960 Speaker 1: is that when you talk about QUI. Back in the day, 122 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: we used to think about how yes, they were buying bonds, 123 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: but a lot of that pushed people to buy equities. 124 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: It chased them into risk. So in a way they 125 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:41,640 Speaker 1: were involved with that indirectly. Japan just went right, just 126 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: went right to the equities. And you know, we do 127 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:46,719 Speaker 1: look at Bank of Japan and we wrote a piece 128 00:06:47,000 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: last time. They actually became smart beta designers. They actually 129 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:53,960 Speaker 1: asked a couple issuers there to design indexes and e 130 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,800 Speaker 1: t f s that waited the stocks to capex and 131 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: who paid workers. Well, that way, they just weren't buying 132 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:04,160 Speaker 1: companies doing buybacks. So they got that into it. And 133 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:06,600 Speaker 1: that's not a horrible idea if you're looking to get 134 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 1: the money to the right place. That isn't the worst 135 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: thing is to make e t f s that hold 136 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: stocks that reward doing capex and uh, you know, paying 137 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,760 Speaker 1: employees higher wage. That's sort of what they're they've gotten into. 138 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: But there that's a whole another level. I don't think 139 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:24,360 Speaker 1: the Fed's gonna do that anytime soon, John, I also 140 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: wanted to ask you another elephant in the room is 141 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: the whole black Rock scenario here where black Rock is 142 00:07:29,280 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: basically the Fed's preferred partner and all of this um, 143 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: you're you're an issuer as well. What what's your read 144 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:39,240 Speaker 1: of that? Well, I guess, uh, you know, look, they're 145 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: supremely qualified with their risk systems and their presence in 146 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: the markets to execute this buying program. But I certainly 147 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:49,760 Speaker 1: hope it's it's well supervised. And as I said before, 148 00:07:49,800 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: going back to the elephant, the less they do the better, 149 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:55,480 Speaker 1: especially in the E T F markets where you know, 150 00:07:55,520 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: our ecosystem with market makers and and everyone has risk 151 00:07:59,600 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: on so whatever the FED does, they're hurting someone, if 152 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: you want to look at it that way. So I 153 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,800 Speaker 1: think probably I'd rather have more of black rocks activity 154 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:13,960 Speaker 1: towards the underlying markets where they feel there's breakage, rather 155 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 1: than messing with the e t s, which you know 156 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:19,760 Speaker 1: they're they're big, they're perceived to be liquid, but we're 157 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,320 Speaker 1: still a fraction of the size of the mutual funds. 158 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: And you know, we haven't gotten to the whole outflow 159 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: story of munis and other asset classes, but a lot 160 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: of that was driven by mutual funds as well. You 161 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: just mentioned the word MUNI. Now, during the worst of 162 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:39,959 Speaker 1: the sell off a couple of weeks ago, it drove 163 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: dislocations in bond e t F s. That means their 164 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:45,720 Speaker 1: price was trading below their n A V. To me, 165 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 1: that's a measure of the liquidity of the underlying Otherwise 166 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:52,719 Speaker 1: that would be armed away. Now h y D which 167 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: is the high old MUNI that's your fund. It wasn't 168 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 1: the biggest discount, but it was close to it. I 169 00:08:57,800 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 1: think at one point it was like day after day 170 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:06,719 Speaker 1: went is high or low as now it's three post 171 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,559 Speaker 1: fed Kitchen Sinc. Bathroom Sinc. Walk us through what it's 172 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: like to be the issuer of a product going through 173 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:17,040 Speaker 1: something like that. Well, the primary mechanism for closing that 174 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: gap is the market makers, right because theoretically they have 175 00:09:20,960 --> 00:09:23,120 Speaker 1: the opportunity to buy the e t F at a 176 00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: price that's below what they can redeem those shares for 177 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,480 Speaker 1: from the fund at the underlying nav. So job one, 178 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: two and three was pretty much to work with the 179 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,320 Speaker 1: market makers as much as possible. One way we did 180 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:40,080 Speaker 1: that was to speed up our adoption of the e 181 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 1: t F rule, which allows for custom baskets, which is 182 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,000 Speaker 1: not sort of a full capability that we had. We 183 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:47,679 Speaker 1: did that, um, you know, kind of very early on 184 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,160 Speaker 1: into the crisis, and then there was a lot of 185 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:53,679 Speaker 1: as you can imagine, communications with clients because a lot 186 00:09:53,679 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: of people didn't understand what's going on. But I really 187 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: think a lot of this had to do with the 188 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: whole selling of munis in general. All Right, prices widened 189 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: and the market makers were just not comfortable whether they 190 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: could sell the bonds if they got delivered from the 191 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: E t F and at what price? Okay? So yeah, 192 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: and I also want to talk about gaming. Are you? 193 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,200 Speaker 1: Are you a pretty hardcore gamer, because I mean you 194 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: have a an E Sports ETF ticker e s P. 195 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:28,319 Speaker 1: Oh yeah no, but I can tell you the PlayStation 196 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: in my basement's getting overheating these days. I've got I've 197 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: got three boys at home and even my oldest too, 198 00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: as a job is now reverted back to eleventh grade. 199 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,200 Speaker 1: I think, so have I. We have an Attendo switch 200 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:48,319 Speaker 1: and I've gotten addicted to this Turbo football game. Um, 201 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:50,920 Speaker 1: and I've started playing a season. Yeah it's getting um 202 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: but anyway, UM, I have a on I fell asleep. 203 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,120 Speaker 1: I took a nap the other day and I woke 204 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: up with a note on my chest. Asked my son 205 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 1: asking me to log in to my computer so he 206 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:05,240 Speaker 1: could play Roadblocks because mommy took the iPad. And this 207 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: is why I tend to cover the video game ETFs 208 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,719 Speaker 1: a lot, because I can see the demand firsthand. If 209 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:12,839 Speaker 1: you look at your to date, esp O is up 210 00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:16,679 Speaker 1: five the markets down and during March when the sell 211 00:11:16,720 --> 00:11:20,880 Speaker 1: off was the worst Spy was down, ESPO was down 212 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 1: ten percent. Only talk about what's going on there? Is 213 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 1: this just people seeing the demand for these UH stocks 214 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:32,439 Speaker 1: when you have a quarantine or is this much more 215 00:11:32,440 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: of a maybe more future demand kind of buying. Well, 216 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,679 Speaker 1: I think we try to offer et f that are 217 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:42,959 Speaker 1: more longer term trends than just a fad UM. So 218 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 1: you know, actually last year Eric also had really strong outperformance. 219 00:11:48,240 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: It's sort of an aggressive growth type of UH E 220 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: t F I would call it. And it's really work 221 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: at work at home e t F. I mean, it's 222 00:11:58,240 --> 00:12:00,559 Speaker 1: it's sort of like zoom stock right, is sort of 223 00:12:00,559 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: a direct play on people entertaining themselves at home when 224 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,480 Speaker 1: they're stuck and they can't move UM. And the numbers 225 00:12:07,480 --> 00:12:11,439 Speaker 1: are astonishing. I mean one of the Asian listed or 226 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: Singapore based companies has seventy million UH players a day 227 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: logging in from different places in in in Asia and 228 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: that's just Asia. So it's it's really it's really an 229 00:12:23,520 --> 00:12:27,600 Speaker 1: amazing phenomenon. We think it will continue. I think it 230 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: could morph. My my kind of point is this kind 231 00:12:30,559 --> 00:12:34,000 Speaker 1: of entertainment can morph into more customer interaction. You know, 232 00:12:34,040 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: you're playing kind of static game. But what happens when 233 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:40,200 Speaker 1: the audience can affect the players in a game? In 234 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,959 Speaker 1: real sports and real sports, people get involved virtual reality. 235 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 1: There's lots of ways that can evolve in a very 236 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,240 Speaker 1: interesting way. I think my nine year old would much 237 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 1: rather watch somebody play a video game on YouTube then 238 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:58,080 Speaker 1: watch sports real sports with me. So this, in a way, 239 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: this event just cceleerates an existing trend, right, it doesn't 240 00:13:02,640 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily shift the demand function, but definitely it 241 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: will be here in a bigger way after this. The 242 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:11,800 Speaker 1: thing about s p O is and all the video 243 00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:13,520 Speaker 1: game et s, I think there's four or five of 244 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: them at this point. Um, the you know, the returns 245 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: have been great. If if es p O was an 246 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,640 Speaker 1: active manager, it would be a feature story in Forbes 247 00:13:21,120 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: because they're doing so much better than the market. Right, 248 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: But it's got a hundred and thirty three million. To me, 249 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: this is a little light considering the outperformance in both 250 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: up and down market, what do you equate this to. 251 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:38,400 Speaker 1: My theory is advisors are hesitant to put something called 252 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: e sports or video games on a client's statement, and 253 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: there's just a perception barrier because robotics and cybersecurity would 254 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:48,439 Speaker 1: clean up if they were posted in this kind of performance. 255 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: I kind of agree with you, um that the asset 256 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 1: growth is a little bit less than what I would 257 00:13:55,120 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: have hoped for given the performance. But I think it's 258 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: just a conversation people love to have with their clients. 259 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,240 Speaker 1: So I don't think it's the this. You know, they're 260 00:14:04,280 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 1: not scared to see it on their statements. Uh, it's 261 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: a very visible trend there. There people playing this in basements, 262 00:14:11,040 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: they're playing it in malls. Um, you know, family members 263 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: are involved. So I it's kind of cutting edge in 264 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: a way. I just don't You're right, it hasn't quite 265 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: broken through, but I think it could very well this year. 266 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 1: So yeah, how do you distinguish your product from the 267 00:14:29,560 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: other products that are there? Um? You know, the main 268 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: thing that we like to say that we have in 269 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: our thematic ets is pure play, so that they're really 270 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:42,200 Speaker 1: trying to get a majority of their revenue from the 271 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: essence of what we're trying to capture. So we we 272 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: do have some bigger companies in there, but we cap them. 273 00:14:49,520 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 1: And then if you look at the portfolio as a whole, 274 00:14:51,880 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: and it reflects a lot of Asian names, and that's 275 00:14:54,840 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: really where there is a very big phenomenon. So uh, 276 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: you know, when I think we were the second or 277 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,240 Speaker 1: so ish to come out that the first one was 278 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: just video games, this was more, uh some of the 279 00:15:06,320 --> 00:15:10,400 Speaker 1: gaming and online sports aspect of it. So that's uh, 280 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,800 Speaker 1: that's really how we would focus our you know, that's 281 00:15:12,840 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: what we did. We follow our regular rules for pure play. Um, 282 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 1: oh kay, let's change it. We'll stick with equities. But 283 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: I want to change the topic to something that was 284 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: put to put on the back burner for the last month, 285 00:15:24,440 --> 00:15:26,480 Speaker 1: but was on the front burner for like six months prior, 286 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: which is E s G. Um. It's probably gonna come 287 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,080 Speaker 1: up again as soon as the market I've already seen 288 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: bubbling of like E s G debate coming back. You're 289 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: interesting to me because you have this e t F 290 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:40,600 Speaker 1: that's low carbon energy smog is the ticker. You also 291 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: have a green bond ETF, but you also are the 292 00:15:43,920 --> 00:15:47,280 Speaker 1: issuer of k o L, which is the coal E 293 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:51,200 Speaker 1: t F, And personally, I kind of dig uh the 294 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 1: sort of look, I'm just trying to serve the people, 295 00:15:53,880 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: whatever your take is. But is that by design or 296 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:01,440 Speaker 1: by accident? Can you explain, sir, having up those two 297 00:16:01,520 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: different sides of the coin. Um, well, they're a little irreconcilable, 298 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: I guess if you want to look at it that way, 299 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: So I'll grant that up front. Um, you know, ko 300 00:16:11,080 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: L was from our first era of ETS, a long 301 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 1: time ago, when we were just trying to capture pure 302 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:20,920 Speaker 1: play and people hadn't broken up the resources world in 303 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: ways that made sense, so um, lots of mining things 304 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: where everything was just thrown together. So we stripped aside 305 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: agriculture shares like MoU and KOL was one of them. 306 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: It's it's barely an E t F anymore. I think 307 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: it's thirty million last I looked, And you know, we've considered, 308 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: uh um, you know, thought about what to do with 309 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 1: it in light of changing customer demands. But you know, 310 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,320 Speaker 1: you may know we're also an active money manager. We 311 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: have actively managed funds, and I think there's been a 312 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:53,960 Speaker 1: lot of good thinking about E s G. But we 313 00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: certainly spent a lot of time on it, and I 314 00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,200 Speaker 1: would just point out I think I think we're on 315 00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: the same page year that E s G one Dotto 316 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,399 Speaker 1: and the for Active Managers was making sure that they 317 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,760 Speaker 1: took more of a three degree look at the different 318 00:17:08,840 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: kind of risks that their companies could have. Environmental and 319 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:14,680 Speaker 1: social governance was always a part of what they did, 320 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:18,560 Speaker 1: and um, I think now putting them into index funds 321 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,040 Speaker 1: is a strain and there's a lot of trade offs 322 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 1: that need to be made. So we think the pure 323 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: play on environmental is something that we can execute on now. John, 324 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: I also want to just ask you, as we sort 325 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:34,200 Speaker 1: of come to an end here, what do you feel 326 00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:38,520 Speaker 1: like the E t F world isn't talking enough about that? 327 00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,800 Speaker 1: You know, when we get through this moment, we should 328 00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:45,880 Speaker 1: spend more time talking about Well, I don't know, it's 329 00:17:45,920 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: certainly mentioned, but it's an incredibly concentrated industry and the 330 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: big shareholders really own a lot of corporate America, and 331 00:17:56,160 --> 00:17:58,679 Speaker 1: you know that's sort of been talked about without a 332 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,520 Speaker 1: lot of suggestions. You know, Jack Bogo wrote about it 333 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:03,960 Speaker 1: in the last PC did for the Wall Street Journal 334 00:18:03,960 --> 00:18:07,560 Speaker 1: before he passed away. So I think that's that's a 335 00:18:07,560 --> 00:18:10,199 Speaker 1: big reality, and black Rock doing the buying for the 336 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: Treasury and the Fed is just going to be, you know, 337 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 1: another another thing to talk about in that vein, but 338 00:18:17,359 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 1: not much we can do about it, I guess as 339 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:20,920 Speaker 1: an independent issue or just kind of make it work 340 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: it through Yahn. We got to ask about Bitcoin. I know, 341 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:25,880 Speaker 1: that's another one of these issues that kind of went 342 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: to the backburner a little bit when when the vix 343 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 1: is up, a lot of this stuff just goes away 344 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,919 Speaker 1: for a while. But it's gonna come back. Bitcoin and 345 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: whether it will be an e t F Tyler Winklevoss 346 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,399 Speaker 1: tweeted out on the tenth April the launch of the 347 00:18:39,440 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: Bitcoin fund on the Toronto Stock Exchange was one of 348 00:18:42,720 --> 00:18:45,560 Speaker 1: the best clothes and fund launches in Canada's history. So 349 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: it's a closed the funness on an e t F, 350 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 1: but it's similar. I mean those aren't too far apart there, 351 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:55,880 Speaker 1: you know, close in the genre, right. What's your take on, 352 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: you know, whether we could see a Bitcoin ETF here, 353 00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: whether you know the sec is you know softening at all. 354 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,000 Speaker 1: I know Matt Hogan over a bit wise has been 355 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 1: working over time to try to get them to um, 356 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: you know, change their view on it and look at 357 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: it as a good thing. There's a couple o t 358 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: C products in the US that are private trusts and 359 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: they trade it, you know, anything from fift premiums, and 360 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:21,400 Speaker 1: a lot of people can say, well, you know this, 361 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:23,560 Speaker 1: a bitcoin e t F would trade it maybe a 362 00:19:23,560 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: one percent premium at that, maybe even lower. Why wouldn't 363 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,680 Speaker 1: they allow it if these other products are out there 364 00:19:30,240 --> 00:19:33,880 Speaker 1: and you act actually get hurt buying at a high 365 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 1: premium and lose money even if bitcoin went up. Yeah. Look, 366 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: I mean you know that we've been trying to get 367 00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: our own bitcoin et F approved for several years now. 368 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:49,719 Speaker 1: There's no real legal or uh you know, investment reason 369 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: to not allow a product like that. And as this 370 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: episode has reminded us in the markets, you don't need 371 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:59,240 Speaker 1: to have bitcoin to have volatility. And I think the 372 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:03,080 Speaker 1: e t F would just add to UM the ecosystem 373 00:20:03,119 --> 00:20:05,960 Speaker 1: for for uh you know, bitcoin e t F would 374 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,680 Speaker 1: add to the ecosystem of that investment class. I will 375 00:20:08,720 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: point out that, you know, gold, this has been a 376 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 1: time when central banks are going so nuts that appetite 377 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 1: for gold and and bitcoin goes up. And actually the 378 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:24,240 Speaker 1: correlation between bitcoin and gold bullion has gone from about 379 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: zero before this year to something like a point five 380 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,840 Speaker 1: correlation this year, which is actually super interesting. I would 381 00:20:31,840 --> 00:20:35,679 Speaker 1: say so far both have been uh you know, working 382 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,920 Speaker 1: independently of the overall markets, but they haven't broken through. 383 00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: And what's amazing is just investor appetite in the traditional 384 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:46,920 Speaker 1: world is I think not as big for bitcoin as 385 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 1: people might imagine. I could be wrong, but I don't 386 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,720 Speaker 1: think it's necessarily an instant billion dollar e t F eric. Yeah, 387 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: and I don't think it's gonna take over Middle America 388 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 1: with Grandma was losing all that. I think people will 389 00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:00,960 Speaker 1: see a bitcoin and on the name, and it will 390 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,760 Speaker 1: track the people who seek it out. Yeah, I see it. 391 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: Maybe the whole category a couple of billion. This is 392 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: me using the ones in Sweden and Switzerland. They haven't 393 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,719 Speaker 1: exactly let the world on fire and all of Europe 394 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:16,320 Speaker 1: gets there and wealthy people here could buy them. So um, yeah, 395 00:21:16,359 --> 00:21:18,840 Speaker 1: I'm with you. I think it would find the right audience, 396 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: people who I don't know. I I'm very I think 397 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: it's e t F S gives something the best possible 398 00:21:25,560 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: shot at a good deal because of that arbitrage mechanism, 399 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:30,280 Speaker 1: which you don't get in the OTC product or closed 400 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:34,040 Speaker 1: and fund agree, Yahn, do you have a would you 401 00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,760 Speaker 1: like to leave our listeners with the closing thought today? Um, 402 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,400 Speaker 1: it's kind of a macro thought if you don't mind. Um, 403 00:21:41,440 --> 00:21:43,440 Speaker 1: you know what I said about a month ago, because 404 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: we do quarterly investment outlooks sort of in the spirit 405 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 1: of this podcast, which is what do I kind of 406 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: see as a CEO that you might not as a 407 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:54,919 Speaker 1: portfolio manager or strategists and stuff like that. And I said, listen, 408 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:58,800 Speaker 1: we're entering a period of heightened uncertainty, and markets hate uncertainty, 409 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,440 Speaker 1: so kind of watch out. And I think that period 410 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:08,159 Speaker 1: of heightened uncertainty, because there's always uncertainty, is going away. Um, 411 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,679 Speaker 1: it's not disappeared, but things are starting to become more visible. 412 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: It may not be great news, like to go back 413 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:16,199 Speaker 1: to work stats and shina I saw las start. You're 414 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:21,280 Speaker 1: kind of depressing. But as visibility appears, and despite what 415 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: the FED did, you know, I think it's time for 416 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,160 Speaker 1: investors to kind of start buying. Don't don't buy everything, 417 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,359 Speaker 1: but you you like someone's uncertainty when you're buying so um. 418 00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: I think we're finishing phase one of this era. I 419 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: would say, John Vanek, thanks for joining us on Trilliance. 420 00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 1: Thank you guys. Thanks for listening to Trilliance until next time. 421 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,120 Speaker 1: You can find us on the Bloomberg terminal, Bloomberg dot com, 422 00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:51,280 Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Webber. Else you'd like to listen. 423 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: We'd love to hear from you. We're on Twitter, I'm 424 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: at Joel Webber Show, He's at Eric Faltunus, and you 425 00:22:57,640 --> 00:23:00,800 Speaker 1: can find Yawn at Yon Vanneck with the number three 426 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,880 Speaker 1: at the end. You can also follow an x podcast 427 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:07,919 Speaker 1: Trends with Benefits. This episode of Trillions was produced by 428 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: Magnus Hendrickson. Francesca Levy is the head of Bloomberg podcast 429 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:12,840 Speaker 1: by