There’s something special about the US stock market these days—it’s almost beyond comprehension how it keeps kicking out consistently big returns. Sure, other markets have nice runs now and again, but they’re usually short-lived and almost microscopic compared to the US. Why is that? And how long can this level of dominance last?

On this episode of Trillions, Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber speak with Steve Hou, a quantitative researcher at Bloomberg Indices, who’s written a number of white papers on innovation, pricing power and turnaround companies. They discuss why US companies are rewarded for innovation while companies elsewhere are not, how to measure and invest in a successful strategy, which attributes make US corporate culture and its economy unique and where the competition is going to come from in the future.

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Municipal bonds are the foundation of how American cities and states operate. And a big reason investors love “munis” is their tax-free status. But if you think that makes muni exchange-traded funds sound boring, think again.

On this episode, Eric and Joel speak with Eric Kazatsky, head of municipal strategy at Bloomberg Intelligence and co-host of the podcast Masters of the Muniverse. They discuss the storied history of munis, how they figure into portfolios—and how that favored tax-free status could be at risk in President Donald Trump’s second term.

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Will the first private credit exchange-traded fund launch in 2025? How many new crypto-related ETFs will come to market this year? And how will the battle of the S&P 500 funds shake out? Will BlackRock’s iShares Core S&P 500 ETF cut fees in an effort to stop Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF from passing State Street’s SPDR S&P 500 ETF in assets?

On this episode of Trillions, the discussion leaves no stone unturned. Eric Balchunas and Joel Weber—along with cross-asset reporter Vildana Hajric—grill Nate Geraci, president of The ETF Store, over his five big predictions for 2025. The heated debate also explores single-stock ETFs and a maneuver called “351 exchanges.”

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