In this episode of ETF Spotlight, I speak with Todd Rosenbluth, Head of ETF & Mutual Fund Research at CFRA. We discuss the hottest ETF stories of the first half and investing ideas for the rest of the year.

More than $200 billion flowed into US-listed ETF in the first half of the year, with record inflows into fixed-income ETFs and commodity ETFs. Gold ETFs like the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD - Free Report) gathered almost $40 billion as the precious metal price surged to its nine-year high.

Cloud computing, e-commerce, and internet are among the best performing areas of 2020 as they all benefit from the current crisis. The ProShares Long Online Short Stores ETF (CLIX - Free Report), the WisdomTree Cloud Computing ETF (WCLD - Free Report), and the O’Shares Global Internet Giants ETF (OGIG - Free Report) have gained more than 55% each this year.

However, the top spot on the leaderboard is occupied by the ARKG Genomics ETF (ARKG - Free Report), which is up more than 70% this year. Two more ARK products—Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW - Free Report) and Innovation ETF (ARKK - Free Report) --are in the top 10, as they benefitted from Tesla’s (TSLA - Free Report) exponential rise.

We also discuss the record number of ETF and ETN closures this year, the proposed ETF labeling system, and actively managed, non-transparent ETFs, or ANTs. 

We have seen some very interesting ETF launches this year, particularly in the past few weeks. The ETFMG Treatments Testing and Advancements ETF (GERM - Free Report), the Pacer BioThreat Strategy ETF (VIRS - Free Report), the Direxion Work From Home ETF (WFH - Free Report) and the Roundhill Sports Betting & iGaming ETF (BETZ - Free Report) try to capitalize on the hottest themes. Tune into the podcast for Todd’s top ETF picks for 2H 2020 and follow him on Twitter @ToddCFRA.