Podcast Summary: Bloomberg Talks

Episode: Robinhood Head of Investment Strategy Stephanie Guild Talks European Equities
Date: January 26, 2026
Host: Bloomberg
Guest: Stephanie Guild, Chief Investment Officer at Robinhood Markets

Overview

This episode focuses on a surge in demand for European equity Exchange Traded Products (ETPs), reflecting global trends and investor behaviors over the previous year. Bloomberg interviews Stephanie Guild from Robinhood to explore how these trends compare with activity on the Robinhood platform, delving into U.S. retail investor preferences, generational investing mindsets, and current market trade insights.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Massive Inflows Into European Equity ETPs

• Context: BlackRock's Ursula Marchioni highlights a dramatic increase in European equity inflows, likening it to "a decade in a year" ([00:00]–[00:59]).
  • Quote: “We’ve seen last year the great repatriation trade, with nearly $92 billion of flows going back into European equities ETPs ... it’s basically a decade in a year.” — Ursula Marchioni, BlackRock ([00:25])
• This prompts the question: Is Robinhood seeing similar investor enthusiasm for international assets?

2. U.S. Investors’ Focus Remains Domestic

• Stephanie Guild reports that Robinhood’s U.S. customer base continues to favor domestic equities, particularly technology and AI ([01:21]–[01:41]).
  • Quote: “We haven’t actually seen a ton of international take up at least here in the U.S. … it’s been a very U.S.-focused, you know, AI and lots of other investing themes.” — Stephanie Guild ([01:21])
• The only modest exception: slight interest in Chinese tech names like Alibaba ("Baba").

3. Reasons Behind the Domestic Bias

• Guild attributes the U.S.-centric behavior to customer familiarity and a long-term mindset:

  • Quote: “I think our customers take sort of a long term view and they like to invest in things that they know and understand … they feel that they know and understand, you know, tech and can understand kind of the long term secular growth trends that can come from parts of tech and are willing to take that risk.” — Stephanie Guild ([01:43])

• Demographics also play a role: Many Robinhood users have only seen U.S. markets, and particularly tech/growth stocks, outperform ([02:13]).

  • Quote: “Could be absolutely part of that. I mean, it’s the same kind of thing as, like, you know, has the generation ever seen value outperform growth?” — Stephanie Guild ([02:26])

4. Real-World Investor Anecdotes

• The conversation highlights an example of an investor who eschewed the broad market for concentrated bets on big tech, outperforming traditional strategies ([02:36]).
  • Memorable Moment: A story is shared about a dinner conversation with an entrepreneur-turned-investor who “doubled down on those big tech names and ... outperformed the market” ([02:36]).

5. Current Trends Emerging on Robinhood

• The conversation turns to current net buys/sells for major tech names on Robinhood ([03:42]–[04:06]):
  • Recent net buys: Meta, Microsoft
  • Recent net sells: Nvidia, AMD, CoreWeave (though CoreWeave is rallying)
  • Increasing interest in software companies after a “deep sell-off”
  • Surge in Netflix buying, potentially tied to recent news events ([04:06])
    • Quote: “You saw below those top names a number of software companies starting to come into the net buy side ... And then more recently, just like in the last day, we’ve seen some Netflix buying as well.” — Stephanie Guild ([04:06])
• The hosts speculate about the influence of a recent Netflix stunt on trading activity ([04:36]).

6. The Broader Market Outlook

• Guild comments on tech’s centrality post-COVID and hints at evolving opportunities as market conditions (like higher interest rates) shift, and policy incentives work through the system ([03:10]–[03:42]):
  • Quote: “Covid’s kind of brought tech right into front and center and the need for it. But ... you can start to see other things do well ... especially with some of the incentives from the one big beautiful bill.” — Stephanie Guild ([03:10])

Notable Quotes and Timestamps

• “We’ve seen last year the great repatriation trade ... it’s basically a decade in a year.” — Ursula Marchioni ([00:25])
• “We haven’t actually seen a ton of international take up at least here in the U.S. … it’s been a very U.S.-focused, you know, AI and lots of other investing themes.” — Stephanie Guild ([01:21])
• “I think our customers take sort of a long term view and they like to invest in things that they know and understand … they feel that they know and understand, you know, tech and can understand kind of the long term secular growth trends that can come from parts of tech and are willing to take that risk.” — Stephanie Guild ([01:43])
• “…you saw below those top names a number of software companies starting to come into the net buy side ... we’ve seen some Netflix buying as well.” — Stephanie Guild ([04:06])

Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:00 – BlackRock’s Ursula Marchioni on European equity inflows
• 01:21 – Stephanie Guild on Robinhood’s U.S. focus
• 01:43 – Why Robinhood customers prefer domestic tech names
• 02:26 – Generational perspective on value vs. growth outperformance
• 02:36 – Anecdote about real-world tech investing
• 03:42 – Current trending trades on Robinhood
• 04:06 – Software and Netflix net buys

Conclusion

The episode highlights the gap between global institutional flows and U.S. retail trading preferences. While European equities saw historic inflows in 2025, Robinhood users largely stayed focused on familiar U.S. tech names, resisting the call to diversify internationally. Stephanie Guild suggests this is grounded in demographics, experience with market outperformance, and a tendency to invest in what feels understandable—especially in technology. Market shifts and policy changes might nudge investors to look more broadly in the future, but for now, the U.S. tech story remains dominant on Robinhood’s platform.