Episode summary
Inside the Gold Rush with State Street’s Global Head of Gold Strategy
ETF Prime
· · 58 min · Guests: Aakash Doshi, Todd Rosenbluth
Summary
The host opened with two themes: Vetify’s indexing business and the surge in gold. Todd Rosenbluth said Vetify now supports more than $75 billion through indexes, with work ranging from rulebook design and rebalancing to education and data support for partners. He argued that innovation is still active in indexing, especially in fixed income and thematic ETFs, where investors are looking for more targeted exposures.
The second half focused on gold’s breakout year. A guest from State Street said gold is being driven by a mix of strong physical demand, renewed ETF inflows, a weaker US dollar, and uncertainty around trade policy, inflation, and fiscal deficits. He said gold ETFs have taken in a record $37 billion this year, with GLD and GLDM together drawing roughly $23 billion year to date by mid-October. He also argued that central banks remain long-term buyers, China retail demand is unusually strong, and any short-term pullbacks in gold are likely to be bought.
On portfolio construction, the guest said gold should be treated as a diversifier and safe haven, while Bitcoin can play a different role as a higher-volatility return enhancer. He said fees matter less in thematic ETFs than what is actually inside the portfolio, and investors should check overlap before adding another thematic sleeve.
Key takeaways
- Todd Rosenbluth said Vetify’s index business now supports over $75 billion, showing how much revenue and asset base can sit behind index licensing and maintenance.
- Todd Rosenbluth argued fixed income and thematic ETFs still offer room for index innovation, especially where rules-based alternatives to broad benchmarks are lacking.
- The State Street guest said gold’s rally is being fueled by record ETF inflows, a weaker dollar, and persistent uncertainty around inflation and fiscal policy.
- The State Street guest said central banks are likely to keep buying gold for years, and China retail demand has been larger than global central bank demand for the past three years.
- The State Street guest said investors should look through a portfolio before buying thematic ETFs, because overlap with existing holdings can make them redundant.
- The State Street guest said gold and Bitcoin can coexist in a portfolio because they serve different jobs: gold as a hedge, Bitcoin as a higher-volatility return asset.
Notable quotes
“I think fees matter less and looking inside the portfolio should matter more”
“our indexing efforts has now swelled to over 75 billion dollars following the acquisition”
“the strongest inflows for gold ETFs this year since 2020”
“gold is your traditional low volatility safe haven left tail portfolio asset”
“I think fees matter less and looking inside the portfolio should matter more”
How the episode opens
I think fees matter less and looking inside the portfolio should matter more. And for those of you that are watching this and I encourage people to watch this. All right.
Joining me will be Akish Doshi, global head of gold strategy at State Street Investment Management, who of course offers the world's most popular physical gold ETF, the Spider Gold Shares, ticker GLD, which now has over $130 billion in assets. They also offer the Spider Gold Mini shares, ticker GLDM, which that isn't too shabby either, over $22 billion in assets. But gold itself has had an absolutely stellar year.
It's up about 55%. It's sitting right at a record high of about $4,100 an ounce. And you can tell ETF investors are noticing because gold ETFs have taken in a record 37 billion this year, which that's already eclipse the annual record set back in 2020.
And so Ashesh and I are going to have a full conversation around all of this. We'll go in depth on what's been driving the price of gold recently. We'll cover a number of the reasons why Aish believes this run from gold can continue.
And then we'll also touch on gold ETFs and the role of gold in a portfolio. And this won't surprise anybody. I may also try to sneak in a question on Bitcoin as well simply because I can't help myself.
And I am just curious how Akish views uh quote unquote digital gold. So we'll do that in a bit. To start this week, I'll be joined by Todd Rosenluth, head of research at Vetify, who I'm not sure some people realize or maybe they don't fully appreciate that Vetify has a very interesting indexing business.
They're an index provider and they actually support over 70 billion dollars in assets through their indexes.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- gold prices
- gold etf inflows
- etf indexing business
- thematic etfs
- gold strategy
Companies and tickers mentioned
- STT
- State Street Investment Management
- VettaFi
Watch the episode
Watch “Inside the Gold Rush with State Street’s Global Head of Gold Strategy” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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