Lazard's $422M ETF Leads Shift to European Banks and Gold

• Investors pivot to international assets amid September volatility.
• Lazard Asset Management’s strategy highlights the trend.

Wall Street investors are reallocating capital from U.S. stocks to international equities, including European banks and Canadian gold miners, as September begins. On August 31, 2025, Cryptopolitan reported that this trend is driven by stretched U.S. market valuations, a weakening dollar, and escalating geopolitical risks.

Lazard Asset Management's $422 million International Dynamic Equity ETF (IEQ) exemplifies this shift. The fund has increased its holdings in European banks and Canadian gold miners while reducing exposure to U.S. technology companies. This adjustment reflects Lazard’s focus on valuation, growth potential, and macroeconomic resilience.

The IEQ ETF holds significant positions in companies like BNP Paribas, Novartis, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Tencent Holdings, and Samsung Electronics. Lazard has particularly concentrated on European banks for their favorable valuations and higher dividend yields. BNP Paribas is the fund's second-largest holding, accompanied by other prominent banks like Societe Generale, Barclays, Japan Post Bank, and the State Bank of India.

Societe Generale has seen a 94% increase in stock performance this year, making it a standout among Lazard's holdings. Similarly, Barclays has risen 34%, while Japan Post Bank has gained 25%. These increases highlight the appeal of the banking sector amid challenging market conditions.

In addition to banking, Lazard is leveraging Canadian gold miners as a hedge against macroeconomic uncertainty. The ETF includes Barrick Gold, Kinross Gold, and Torex Gold. Stocks like Barrick and Kinross have shown remarkable growth, rising 72% and 125% year-to-date, respectively.

Conversely, Lazard has scaled back its investments in U.S. tech companies, citing AI-driven changes that are reducing the cost and complexity of software development. The firm has sold off holdings in companies such as AppLovin, Gartner, and Cadence Design Systems. Instead, it is prioritizing hardware and connectivity-focused companies, including Amphenol, Ericsson, Western Digital, and NetGear.

Meanwhile, Europe’s broader banking sector continued its strong performance, reaching its highest levels since 2008 in early August. In contrast, media companies across Europe have declined more than 8% over the past two months, with AI-driven shifts impacting advertising-dependent firms like WPP.

As of August 31, 2025, 12:00 UTC, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $27,994, with a 1.4% increase in 24-hour trading volume, according to CoinMarketCap. Ethereum (ETH) is priced at $1,784, with a 0.8% increase over the same period. These data points reflect stability within the cryptocurrency market amid broader financial market turbulence.