Finance
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The money manager behind two of the world’s biggest actively managed exchange-traded funds sees a way for investors to stay defensive without leaving the market.
Jon Maier’s firm is behind the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF (JEPI) and JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF (JPST). They’re listed as No. 1 and No. 3 in size globally in their category, according to VettaFi.
The goal: give investors downside protection while generating income.
“When the VIX [volatility] increases, that offers the opportunity for an increased amount of income to the investor of JEPI,” the J.P. Morgan Asset Management chief ETF strategist told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. “Conversely … when the volatility declines, given that the options are written out of the money, it provides some upside in the underlying portfolio.”
JEPI fell around 3% in April while volatility gripped the market. As of Thursday’s market close, the ETF is off about 4% for the year while the S&P 500 is down almost 5%.
JEPI’s top holdings include Mastercard, Visa and Progressive according to JPMorgan’s website as of April 30.
Meanwhile, the JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income Fund focuses on fixed income instead of U.S. equity. The fund is virtually flat so far this year.
“It provides a ballast in your portfolio [and] stability for those investors that are looking to protect principle,” Maier said.
‘Hiding out to weather the storm’
ETF Action’s Mike Akins notes these ETFs are satisfying an important investment need in the market.
“This category is where people are hiding out to weather the storm,” the firm’s founding partner said on the show.
According to J.P. Morgan Asset Management, the JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income Fund had the second-highest volume among active U.S. fixed income ETFs between April 3 and 10 — which marked the year’s most volatile weekly span on Wall Street.
Correction: Jon Maier’s firm is behind the JPMorgan Equity Premium Income ETF and JPMorgan Ultra-Short Income ETF. An earlier version misstated his status.
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Global investors are undergoing a structural rethink of their exposure to U.S. markets, according to economic expert Rebecca Patterson.
Patterson, who served as Bridgewater’s chief investment strategist, contends they’re gradually reducing exposure to U.S. assets and the impact could be significant. Her prediction comes after having conversations with participants in last week’s World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington.
“There are a large number of foreign investors who are worried not only about tariffs, but just about America’s reliability as a partner,” Patterson said Monday on CNBC’s “Fast Money.”
Outside of the Trump administration’s tariff policy, she finds foreign investors and policymakers are losing faith in the U.S. on broader fears about the potential weaponizing of capital markets to achieve its economic goals.
That may put global investors’ U.S. holdings at risk, according to Patterson. Foreigners held more than $31 trillion of U.S. assets as of last June, according to the most recent U.S. Treasury data. That’s an increase of $4.4 trillion from the prior year. The gains came as U.S. markets reached all-time highs, thanks in part to megacap tech and the artificial intelligence trade.
“They are looking at a huge U.S. allocation that has built up over the last several years and saying, ‘maybe we should have a little bit less, just trim off the tops’ — basically, have a risk premium on U.S. assets because we have so much uncertainty,” she said.
Even a small reduction in global participation could present a problem for U.S. markets, Patterson warns.
“Pretend you’re the chief investment officer of a major overseas pension fund or sovereign wealth fund. I’m going to take 2% off my U.S. stocks, 2% off my U.S. bonds, a 4% shift,” she said. “That’s $1.2 trillion that is going to be leaving the U.S. now.”
A potential $1.2 trillion sell-off represents 2.3% of the S&P 500‘s total market capitalization, as of Thursday’s close. Still, Patterson emphasizes the capital flight will not happen overnight.
“These investment committees will take months to think about things. They’ll have a meeting, they’ll have a board approve it and then it gets implemented. But what this is, is a slow bleed of support out of the U.S. markets, either going back to home markets or into new opportunities, or things like gold,” said Patterson.
U.S. stocks have broadly underperformed other global equities so far in 2025, with the S&P down 4.7% in that time. Europe’s broad-based STOXX 600 index has gained 3.9% this year, while the MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index has risen 2.8% over the same period, per FactSet.
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