It’s been a great year for international equity ETF investors. Will it persist after Nvidia Q1 results?
When we look at the top 25 highest asset-gathering equity ETFs in 2025 — which have a combined asset haul of about $182 billion — we find that seven of the funds are international equity ETFs. Together, these strategies have snagged about 14% of the top net inflows, or roughly $25 billion.
If we expand that pool to consider the 40 most in-demand equity ETFs this year — to see just how far down the list that appetite for international equity exposure exists — this category represents about 16% of the overall $212.5 billion asset creation among the top 40. That’s strong.
Leading demand is the Vanguard Total International Stock ETF (VXUS ), with $6.4 billion in net inflows YTD. The fund, which is 40% allocated to Europe and 26% to emerging markets, has stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor and Tencent among biggest holdings. The fund is up nearly 14% so far in 2025. That compares to a 1.2% gain in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO ) in the same time frame. (VOO has been the asset-gathering king this year
Other popular international equity ETFs sitting among the year’s biggest asset winners include the Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK ), the SPDR Portfolio Developed World ex-US ETF (SPDW ), the iShares MSCI Intl Quality Factor ETF (IQLT ), the Avantis Emerging Markets Equity ETF (AVEM ), and the Dimensional International Value ETF (DFIV ), among others. It’s a diverse list of strategies from multiple providers.
Investors have been looking abroad this year, seeking diversification as well as attractive valuations relative to the U.S. market amid so much uncertainty at home. But will this trend last? Domestic bias is very strong. And in 2025, it has remained resilient despite a challenging market.
Nvidia Setting a New Tone
Now, after Nvidia reported Q1 earnings this week, the conversation may be changing. Market expert commentary the day after the results were released centered on a return to U.S. growth, to U.S. big tech, and to U.S. cyclicals as a core focus.
The macro backdrop hasn’t really changed. Ongoing trade and tariffs disputes, now involving courts, continue to make for a noisy background. Jitters around a budget deficit remain a big overhang on the market. The Federal Reserve is still waiting to see what happens on the inflation and jobs fronts. Uncertainty is still high.
But Nvidia was able to rise above it all to deliver strong revenues despite some business challenges tied to the trade war in Q1. The company’s positive results seemed to reinforce the narrative that the U.S. economy is indeed resilient. The stock is, after all, more than a leading actor in the AI story and the Big U.S. Tech playbook. It’s also a barometer for growth. It’s a catalyst of sorts for investor sentiment. Its success is seen as bullish for U.S. risk assets more broadly.
More Nvidia ETF Tools
Interestingly enough, in a stroke of what we could call perfect timing, Rex Shares launched its REX NVDA Growth & Income ETF (NVII ) on the same day Nvidia impressed the market with its Q1 results.
Whether Nvidia’s performance will be enough to trigger another wave of appetite for U.S. equities, especially in big tech and around the AI theme, it’s not yet clear. But investors now have even more product choice to implement their views if they choose to.
NVII aims to offer access to both Nvidia growth with the use of leverage (between 1.05x and 1.5x exposure to the stock) as well as weekly income through options. It’s an offense-with-a-little-defense type of strategy. The fund is the latest addition to a roster of single-stock ETFs focused on Nvidia. This roster includes funds from GraniteShares, Roundhill, and Direxion.
We know the power Nvidia has to drive narratives and markets. In fact, ETF.com recently crowned the GraniteShares 2x Long NVDA Daily ETF (NVDL ) the best leveraged/inverse ETF of the Year for 2024. That win highlighted how impactful Nvidia (as a stock) and Nvidia-focused ETFs were in 2024.
The year of 2025 had been, up to now, marked by a prevailing call to go international. Maybe that will persist if outperformance persists, or maybe we are on the verge of a great Nvidia-led U.S. equity comeback.
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