Lead-Lag Live

Jeremy Schwartz, CFA, Global Chief Investment Officer of WisdomTree Investments, joins Michael Gayed on Lead-Lag Live on the eve of WisdomTree's 20-year anniversary to discuss the growth-vs-value cycle, why home bias is quietly costing US investors return, and where the next phase of international diversification is headed.

Topics covered:

(00:00) Introduction and setting the stage

(01:37) WisdomTree's 20-year evolution and $170B global footprint

(02:40) Where we are in the growth-vs-value cycle

(03:40) Why the US equity risk premium is misunderstood (real vs nominal)

(06:15) WTV (US Value) and the Quality Growth Blend (QGRW) rebalance

(07:18) WisdomTree's investment process: from pure index to active

(08:52) Passive concentration, broadening leadership, and the case against home bias

(10:57) Home bias is real - even at $170B AUM, models still tilt heavy US

(13:33) Currency hedging: the case Jeremy has made for 15 years

(15:41) DXJ, dynamic hedging, and OPPJ's flexible approach

(18:50) Why Japan may be structurally overweight worthy

(21:26) The case for Europe: contrarian, defense, and shareholder yield

(25:00) Emerging markets rotation: from energy to tech (Samsung, TSMC, Hynix)

(33:00) Farmland, gold, and multi-asset diversification

(38:00) Closing thoughts on the next 20 years for WisdomTree

Funds and products referenced:

WTV - WisdomTree U.S. Value Fund

QGRW - WisdomTree U.S. Quality Growth Fund

DXJ - WisdomTree Japan Hedged Equity Fund

OPPJ - WisdomTree Japan Opportunities Fund

OPPE - WisdomTree European Opportunities Fund

GEOA - WisdomTree Geopolitical Alpha Opportunities Fund

GDE - WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Equity Strategy Fund

GDMN - WisdomTree Efficient Gold Plus Gold Miners Strategy Fund

About the guest: Jeremy Schwartz, CFA, is the Global Chief Investment Officer of WisdomTree Investments. He has been at WisdomTree since 2005, working alongside Professor Jeremy Siegel of the Wharton School on research covering global equity valuations, dividend strategies, currency hedging, and multi-asset portfolio construction. Jeremy leads the firm's investment function across the US and Europe and has been a leading voice on international diversification, currency hedging, and the case for shareholder-yield strategies for over 15 years.

Where to find Jeremy and WisdomTree:

Website: wisdomtree.com

X: @WisdomTreeFunds

Please see the WisdomTree Glossary for additional definitions of terms and/or indexes.

The Lead-Lag Report: leadlagreport.com

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

For fund holdings and standardized performance visit: WisdomTree.com/investments

INVESTORS SHOULD CAREFULLY CONSIDER THE INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES, RISKS, CHARGES AND EXPENSES OF THE FUNDS BEFORE INVESTING. TO OBTAIN A PROSPECTUS CONTAINING THIS AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION, PLEASE CALL 866.909.9473, OR VISIT WISDOMTREE.COM/INVESTMENTS TO VIEW OR DOWNLOAD A PROSPECTUS. READ THE PROSPECTUS CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU INVEST.

There are risks associated with investing, including potential loss of principal. Foreign investing involves currency, political and economic risk. Funds focusing on a single country, sector and/or funds that emphasize investments in smaller companies may experience greater price volatility. Investments in emerging markets, real estate, currency, fixed income and alternative investments include additional risks. Due to the investment strategy of certain Funds, they may make higher capital gain distributions than other ETFs. Please see prospectus for discussion of risks.

Jeremy Schwartz is a registered representative of Foreside Fund Services, LLC.

WisdomTree Funds are distributed by Foreside Fund Services, LLC, in the U.S.

Sign up to The Lead-Lag Report on Substack and get 30% off the annual subscription today by visiting http://theleadlag.report/leadlaglive.

Support the show

Hervé Van Caloen, President of Mercator Investment Management, joins Michael Gayed on Lead-Lag Live to discuss where the next decade of alpha lives outside the US — with a focus on Latin America (Venezuela post-Maduro, Argentina's Milei reforms), Japan's semiconductor comeback via Rapidus, European defense investment, and the case for global diversification when US market concentration hits a 93-year high.

Topics covered:

(00:00) Host intro and Hervé's international investing background

(05:05) US tech concentration and the case for diversification

(10:00) Europe's shift toward bureaucracy and regulation

(15:10) Sweden's capitalism pivot and European contrasts

(20:21) Japan's lost decades and the macro turnaround

(25:20) Japan's semiconductor strategy and the Rapidus initiative

(30:18) Global rotation beyond the US and investor caution

(35:05) Emerging markets pain, BRICS, and Latin America opportunity

(40:04) Currency risk, hedging, and export-focused plays

About Mercator Investment Management: Mercator is an international asset manager focused on non-US equity opportunities across developed and emerging markets. Hervé Van Caloen brings decades of experience investing across Latin America, Asia, and Europe, with particular expertise in identifying structural reforms and macro pivots that create multi-year equity re-ratings.

Where to find Hervé and Mercator:

Website: mercatorinvestments.com

Contact: Hervé Van Caloen — herve.vancaloen@mercatorinvestments.com

The Lead-Lag Report: leadlagreport.com

Sponsored by Mercator Investment Management — this episode is presented as part of Mercator's Lead-Lag Live sponsored webinar series covering international investment opportunities.

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Views expressed by Hervé Van Caloen are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Lead-Lag Publishing, LLC. Investors should conduct their own due diligence before making any investment decision.

Sign up to The Lead-Lag Report on Substack and get 30% off the annual subscription today by visiting http://theleadlag.report/leadlaglive.

Support the show

Michael A. Gayed, CFA (The Lead-Lag Report) sits down with Jason Hsu, founder of Rayliant Global Advisors, and China-market specialists Fujia Liu and Tony Yang of China Asset Management (ChinaAMC) to unpack factor investing, thematic tilts, and how global allocators are thinking about dispersion, AI, and energy trends inside Chinese markets.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

- The real difference between smart beta, factor investing, and thematic investing

- Why cap-weighted concentration pushes allocators toward smarter weighting schemes

- How core-satellite portfolio construction applies to global and emerging-market allocations

- Why China's AI buildout looks structurally different than the U.S. AI investment stack

- How dispersion across sectors shapes opportunity in Chinese equities

- Where nuclear and energy trends fit into the broader China thematic picture

PANELISTS

Michael A. Gayed, CFA -- Publisher, The Lead-Lag Report; Founder, Lead-Lag Media

Jason Hsu -- Founder, Rayliant Global Advisors

Fujia Liu -- SVP, Global Capital Division, China Asset Management (ChinaAMC)

Tony Yang -- VP, Global Capital Division, China Asset Management (ChinaAMC)

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BF3xlgJTf8

DISCLOSURE

This webinar was sponsored by Rayliant Global Advisors. Michael A. Gayed, CFA and Lead-Lag Media LLC received compensation from Rayliant for coordinating and hosting this program. Commentary from the ChinaAMC (CAMC) participants in this program is limited to broad, thematic market perspective and does not constitute a discussion or recommendation of any specific investment product. Nothing in this program is investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any security. All views expressed are those of the participants at the time of recording. Please consult your own financial advisor before making any investment decision.

Past performance does not guarantee future results. The content in this program is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy, or investment product. All investments involve risks, including possible loss of principal. Please consult your own investment or financial advisor for advice related to all investment decisions.
Sign up to The Lead-Lag Report on Substack and get 30% off the annual subscription today by visiting http://theleadlag.report/leadlaglive.

Support the show

Michael A. Gayed, CFA sits down with Michael Toney-Hoffman of TrendSpider to break down the rate-cut divergence between what the Fed is signaling, what the market is pricing, and what actually shows up in leading-sector scans right now.

Mike Toney-Hoffman drives the TrendSpider Sidekick portfolio agent live on screen — running natural-language prompts against real market data to identify sector leaders, rank technical setups, and pressure-test portfolio positioning against rate scenarios.

👉 Try TrendSpider Sidekick

CHAPTERS

00:00 – Cold open + why this rate-cut divergence matters

02:30 – What the Fed's saying vs. what the curve is pricing

06:15 – Introducing TrendSpider's Sidekick portfolio agent

10:00 – Live Sidekick prompt #1: Cyber sector leaders scan

15:36 – Why Singapore looks like the underdog

20:00 – Live Sidekick prompt #2: Portfolio rate-hike scenario stress test

25:00 – Deep-research narrowing on the cyber names — CRWD, PANW, ATEN

30:00 – Rate-cut scenario across sectors + relative-strength ranks

36:00 – What Sidekick gets right that traditional scanners miss

40:00 – Where TrendSpider is headed next

43:00 – Wrap

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OqF2tZLV21g

DISCLOSURES

This is a sponsored conversation with TrendSpider. Michael A. Gayed, CFA and Lead-Lag Media LLC receive compensation from TrendSpider for this content. Nothing in this episode is investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. All views are those of the participants at the time of recording. Do your own due diligence before making any investment decision.
Sign up to The Lead-Lag Report on Substack and get 30% off the annual subscription today by visiting http://theleadlag.report/leadlaglive.

Support the show

Alex Shahidi, Managing Principal and Co-CIO at Evoke Advisors and co-portfolio manager of the RPAR Risk Parity ETF and UPAR Ultra Risk Parity ETF, returns to Lead-Lag Live for the next single-topic risk-parity conversation — this one focused on commodity producers as the inflation-hedging equity sleeve inside a modern balanced portfolio.

Alex makes the structural case for owning commodity producer equities rather than commodity futures — the tax efficiency, the equity risk premium layered on top of the commodity exposure, and the 50+ year track record of outperforming global equities by roughly 2% a year. He walks through how RPAR and UPAR construct the sleeve using the broad Morningstar Global Upstream Natural Resources Net Return Index (roughly a third energy, a third industrial and precious metals, a third agriculture), why diversification within the sleeve matters more than picking a single subsector, and why the diversification benefit shows up most when it's needed most — 2022 (equities down 18%, producers up 15%), Q1 2026 (equities down 3%, producers up 20%), and the 1970s (13%+ annualized for a full decade of stagflation).

He also gets candid about the behavioral difficulty of holding this sleeve as a standalone position — the 20-30% higher volatility versus global equities, the extended stretches where it deviates significantly from the broader market, and why rebalancing across the risk-parity buckets is what actually captures the long-run edge. The conversation closes with the practical case for RPAR versus a traditional 60/40: what inflation looks like when you zoom out over 100 years, why "low and stable" is the abnormal regime rather than the normal one, and where inflation-linked bonds fit alongside the commodity producer sleeve.

Topics covered:

(00:00) Opening — another Lead-Lag Live single-topic risk-parity conversation with Alex Shahidi

(00:30) Alex introduces Evoke Advisors, RPAR and UPAR, and the risk-parity framework

(02:18) Why commodity producer equities instead of commodity futures — tax efficiency and the equity risk premium

(04:13) Devil's advocate: are gold miners and other producers actually equities in disguise?

(05:09) How the broad producer index is constructed — energy, metals, agriculture, and why diversification within the sleeve matters

(06:07) Contango, backwardation, and why the futures path complicates the futures-based approach

(07:27) Historical case study — 2022 (equities -18%, producers +15%) and Q1 2026 (equities -3%, producers +20%)

(08:50) The 1970s parallel — 13%+ annualized during a decade of stagflation

(10:10) Why correlation is a byproduct — divergence shows up when you need it most

(12:05) The 55-year track record — 2% annualized outperformance vs global equities, liquid and tax efficient

(13:32) Currency exposure and dollar sensitivity in the producer sleeve

(14:27) The behavioral challenge — 20-30% more volatile than equities and the discipline required to hold it

(17:40) Rebalancing as programmatic mean reversion — why trimming winners matters over full cycles

(19:37) Making the case for RPAR versus a traditional 60/40 — the inflation-hedge gap

(20:36) Zooming out — 100 years of inflation history and why "low and stable" is the abnormal regime

(21:31) Where inflation-linked bonds fit alongside the producer sleeve in a full risk-parity framework

About Evoke Advisors: Evoke Advisors is a large, independent registered investment advisor headquartered in Los Angeles, co-founded by Alex Shahidi. The firm co-portfolio-manages the RPAR Risk Parity ETF and the UPAR Ultra Risk Parity ETF, both built on the principle that a balanced portfolio should diversify across economic environments — not just across asset classes.

Where to find Alex and Evoke:

Website: evokeadvisors.com

RPAR + UPAR ETFs: rparetf.com

The Lead-Lag Report: leadlagreport.com

Sponsored by Evoke Advisors: The RPAR Risk Parity ETF (RPAR) and UPAR Ultra Risk Parity ETF (UPAR) offer diversified, all-weather exposure across global equities, Treasuries, TIPS, gold, and commodity producers — engineered to balance risk across four economic environments. Learn more at rparetf.com.

Important disclosures: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of any fund before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future results. RPAR and UPAR are subject to market risk, interest rate risk, commodity risk, and other risks disclosed in the fund prospectus. Investing in commodity-related equities involves the risks of the underlying commodities markets, including significant price volatility. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Support the show