Ideas
International diversification has further room to run
International markets are attracting renewed investor interest and have further room to run because AI, lower interest rates, shareholder-friendly policies, and a weakening dollar are tailwinds; investors are diversifying previously US-centric portfolios, and clients are focused on developed international and emerging markets amid a regime change.
US Mag 7 leadership has stalled
US mega-cap leadership has stalled, reducing the market-cap dynamic that choked international investing, but he is not recommending selling the Magnificent 7; they remain large and growing companies.
US investors underweight international; reallocation early
International equities are in the early stage of a long-term reallocation: they underperformed for a decade, US investors are underweight versus global market-cap weights, and valuation, dividends, global growth, and deregulation support a catch-up.
European banks beat US peers on dividends
European money-center banks have been better investments than US peers, with Barclays, Santander, and Societe Generale outperforming Citi, Bank of America, and JPMorgan while paying much higher dividends; European deregulation is a powerful relative-change driver.
Active international value fund sees demand
JIVE is a pure international value ETF using contrarian valuation methodology to capture opportunities while avoiding value traps; it has seen almost $1 billion of net flows, showing demand for active international value exposure.
Europe benefits from rates and stimulus
European equities are drawing client interest because lower interest rates, fiscal stimulus, weakening-dollar benefits, and AI/data-center buildouts are tailwinds, with Europe also able to benefit from AI-driven efficiency gains.
EM benefits from weaker dollar
Emerging markets are attractive as the dollar weakens and investors reallocate out of US-centric portfolios; clients are asking about EM exposure to avoid missing a broader market regime change.
Active ex-US dividend ETF with option overlay
IDVO is an actively managed international equity ETF with an option overlay focused on distribution yield and companies growing payouts or paying high dividends; it tracks MSCI All-World ex-US/ACWI ex-US with roughly 70% developed and 30% emerging-market exposure.
Overweight gold for two years
He has been overweight gold for two years, supported by the metals frenzy, dollar-debasement concerns, commodity dynamics, and geopolitical repositioning; Latin American commodity markets have benefited from gold and copper.
Own Alibaba as China governance improves
He shifted from underweight China to leaning into the China tech trade and is overweight Alibaba because political pressure and corporate-governance risk from China's government have improved.
Taiwan chips are key AI exposure
Owning Taiwan Semiconductor, Taiwan, and the chip sector gives exposure to AI/semiconductor trends, with TSMC one of the most important tech companies outside the US; investors want exposure to these global trends.
Peru and Chile ride copper/gold
Peru and Chile are benefiting from Latin American outperformance tied to gold and copper; Peru is up 25% and these countries host some of the largest copper deposits and gold mines.
Brazil outperformance on political right shift
Brazil's equity market has outperformed about 18-19%, helped by commodity and geopolitical dynamics and a shift to the right in Latin America's largest economy, which he views as bullish for equities.
South Korea ETF benefits memory boom
South Korea via EWY gives exposure to high-bandwidth memory and the world's largest memory companies; Samsung and another major memory player make up a large share of the KOSPI, and memory remains on fire even as broader semis stall.
Japan EPS growth underappreciated
Japan has underappreciated EPS growth as corporate governance, free-cash-flow payout, and efficiency improvements have been building for 10-15 years, creating an attractive backdrop.
Global defense spending trend remains strong
Global fiscal spending to support additional defense is an important worldwide trend as governments prioritize industrial and defense capacity.
Long global utilities on power shortage
He loves the global utilities trade because the world is short power, except China, and European utilities like RWE and Enel have modernized and are no longer bureaucratic, inefficient businesses; he wants to be long.
German champions benefit deregulation support
Deregulation and governments treating domestic companies as national champions make German equities more attractive; Siemens, SAP, Mercedes-Benz, and Deutsche Bank are examples of national champions that should have government tailwinds.
This CNBC video, published January 29, 2026,
features Jon Maier, Tim Seymour
discussing ACWX, EFA, MAGS, EUFN, BCS, SAN, SCGLY, JIVE, VGK, EEM, IDVO, GLD, BABA, KWEB, TSM, EWT, SMH, EPU, ECH, EWZ, EWY, EWJ, ITA, JXI, RWE.DE, ENEL, EWG, SIEMENS, SAP, MBGYY, DB.
18 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.
Speakers:
Jon Maier,
Tim Seymour
· Tickers:
ACWX,
EFA,
MAGS,
EUFN,
BCS,
SAN,
SCGLY,
JIVE,
VGK,
EEM,
IDVO,
GLD,
BABA,
KWEB,
TSM,
EWT,
SMH,
EPU,
ECH,
EWZ,
EWY,
EWJ,
ITA,
JXI,
RWE.DE,
ENEL,
EWG,
SIEMENS,
SAP,
MBGYY,
DB
