00:00So cooperating here, is market sentiment not or is market sentiment going to shift to the positive again?
00:08Good morning. Well, you know, barring external factors, which we've seen a lot of right throughout the last year, whether it's been geopolitics, whether it's been tariffs or things like this, you know, if we're on pace here for kind of the trend that we have here and we do have this growth of AI, you know, I know there's news around spending being cut back and things like this.
00:27But we're still in the infancy of AI and there has already been so much spending that is now going to kind of pile into the economy, pile into these different companies, different sectors and things like this.
00:37So I think it plays out and benefits these these companies over time.
00:41So I think, you know, that coupled with a Fed that is is likely to cut, particularly if we have a new Fed chair in, you know, in with the president and kind of, you know, knowing where the predictions will go on that.
00:55That's what the market's really looking for. Right.
00:57We have a little bit of a weaker labor number. Consumer spending is holding up.
01:01You know, corporate earnings were arguably great.
01:04You had over 80 percent of names beating on the top and bottom line.
01:07You know, double digit growth continues positive GDP outlook.
01:10I think that we could be in for a good market here.
01:14A good market led by the same names.
01:15It's interesting that NVIDIA CEO Jensen Wang is in Capitol Hill today.
01:19We understand he's just been seen entering U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson's office.
01:22How much will political tailwinds or headwinds help or hinder some of these companies being worried about access to China?
01:29More broadly, can NVIDIA continue to lead this market higher?
01:33So I think in a way, NVIDIA still has the monopoly on AI and chips.
01:39Right. And so I think that, you know, a lot of the other semiconductor companies are starting to do better and take some of the business away.
01:47But for now, NVIDIA remains the clear leader in terms of Washington and politics.
01:51Of course, all of these things impact these companies.
01:54You know, they are the trillion dollar clubs.
01:56They lead the market and policy affects them first.
01:59But the other side of that argument is when the market falls back, you know, where do people invest?
02:03A lot of times they look for defensive names.
02:05But you have these high, again, trillion dollar companies, high quality, strong balance sheets that over time tend to perform.
02:11Investors actually do look to those companies for investments.
02:14And if you look at today, you know, 400 out of the 500 names actually participated in the bounce off of, you know, the last pullback.
02:21And so you see a little breadth expansion there.
02:24I do, though, think that the AI tech is going to continue leading markets for years to come.
02:29You've actually got a large cap ETF that is excluding Magnificent Seven.
02:35How is that performed of late and how many people are wanting to put money into it?
02:39So interestingly enough, we've actually seen an increase in flows into that ETF.
02:43And, you know, it may sound like a contradiction to what I just said.
02:46It absolutely isn't.
02:47I think that the average investor has exposure to MAG-7 everywhere, right, whether it's in ETFs or they hold the single name stocks.
02:54And so when the market pulls back and you're looking to diversify and broaden your exposure, we take out those names because we're saying, hey, you already have them.
03:02Hang on to them.
03:02But participate in the breadth and the broadening of the rallies in the years to come.
03:08And so, you know, very much like an equal wage strategy, XMAG excludes the MAG-7.
03:13But what's, you know, we think very favorable about that is you're still letting the winners win, right?
03:17So you still have market caps rallying in that fund and can, you know, do well over time.
03:23You really have created a lot of ETFs that have been galvanized by this whole broadening out of the trade, AI and power infrastructure ETF, for example.
03:33But I'm also interested in the quantum side of things because there's an interesting story.
03:37Key Nobel laureate, winner of the physics prize, has just been talking about how China looks like it's really pulling ahead, just a nanosecond behind the U.S.
03:45in terms of quantum compute scale and indeed innovation.
03:49How much have people been wanting to get into the quantum side of the equation?
03:51Well, I think, you know, what you just mentioned will be a big reason and we'll put a lot of focus on the quantum names again for investors,
04:00because what happens when we think that, you know, other governments are beating us in AI or technology or things like this,
04:07the U.S. government tends to invest, right?
04:09And American corporations tend to invest and catch up and try to win the race, right?
04:14So I think that just, you know, on a basic level, you've seen some good news around quantum,
04:17whether it's been HSBC, the advanced bond pricing models that have come out of it.
04:22You know, you've seen some good results around annealing from D-Wave.
04:26You know, some of the top quantum companies have done quite well for investors.
04:28But I think, you know, as this continues and it becomes more commercial, you will see flows coming into the space.
04:33And we think it's a longer term hold for investors.
04:36What hasn't been a longer term hold just in recent days has been microstrategy.
04:42You have a lot of ETFs giving either you long exposure to microstrategy, now called strategy, or indeed leverage positioning for it,
04:49but also to go short as well.
04:51So you're kind of offering both sides of the pile here.
04:55What do you make of the fact that maybe Michael Saylor isn't a complete hodler for the longer term,
05:01that maybe at some point they might have to sell Bitcoin?
05:04Yeah, I mean, I think that that's, you know, that's a business decision for their firm in terms of how best to, you know,
05:10generate ROI and be profitable over time.
05:13But, you know, what you just mentioned, it is true.
05:16We have long funds, we have short funds.
05:17And for us, we're just trying to democratize hedge fund-like products for investors that, you know,
05:23are tactical and knowledgeable about these markets and look for short-term exposure opportunities.
05:28So those products are simply there.
05:29We don't necessarily have an opinion on, you know, their view of that.
05:33We want to give them the right tool to do that.
05:35But I think, you know, if Bitcoin rallies, you'll see strategy do well.
05:38If it doesn't, you'll see it go the other way.
05:40And perhaps the flows will also match in terms of long and short leverage funds.
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