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Markets & the Economy: Risk On, Rally On…

This content does not reflect any recommendations of Baird.

Note three dispersion themes playing out as the global economy & markets navigate the fallout from this Middle East War…

  • Wall Street vs Main Street
  • The US vs the rest of the World
  • Tech vs Consumer Discretionary

Can we believe this bounce…A Record Rally with Record Highs in Record Time

Add it to the ETF Line Up

New Launches: (week ending 4/17/26) a few highlights…

  • BHYP~ Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF
  • ORBX~ Global X Space Tech ETF
  • CAGE~ Calamos Autocallable Growth ETF
  • VDV~ Vanguard Developed Markets ex US Value Index ETF & VDG ex US Growth ETF

New Filings:

Tema filing for a Memory ETF; no doubt seeing $DRAM’s insta success (just launched on 4/2 and already nearly $500M in aum)

Goldman jumping into the bitcoin ETF game…with a filing for a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF

T-Rex with a filing for 2x versions of a bunch of future-y ETFs including DRAM which is only 1 week old~ humanoids, robots and drones ETFs also in the mix

Table listing multiple T‑REX 2x long daily target ETFs, including DRAM, DRNZ, EUAD, KOID, ROBO, and XOVR.

ETF Check Up

ETF Buzz...

Stacked area chart showing IBIT steadily gaining share of spot Bitcoin ETFs from 2024 to early 2026.

256 ETFs launched in Q1, which is 6% ahead of last year’s record pace…also on pace to break last year’s flow record by 30% and volume record by 50%  

Annual ETF launches by year, rising from about 300 in 2020 to over 1,100 in 2025, then slowing in 2026.

  $22.5T worth of ETF shares were traded in Q1 2026…highest quarterly volume ever recorded~ Volume on pace to beat last year’s record by 50%  

Quarterly global ETF trading volume chart showing steady growth, reaching over $20 trillion by early 2026.

Looking across 46 different country ETFs since the start of the Iran war, the global picture looks far more resilient than headlines would suggest…

  • 20 out of 46 have already fully recovered their initial losses, even w the conflict still ongoing

    Bar chart showing country ETF returns since Iran conflict, with Brazil and Saudi Arabia leading gains and U.S. near flat.

Source: Bloomberg data as of 4/17/2026
Performance numbers are as of the market close on Friday, 4/17/2026