The stock market is about to do something unusual: go up by more than 20% for the second year in a row. The S & P 500 has risen 24.73% so far this year, up fractionally more than last year’s 24.23%, according to FactSet data. It’ll be only the third time there have been back-to-back gains of that size in the past century, according to Deutsche Bank. Yet, despite this uncommon trend, two actively managed ETFs have outperformed the index. The London-listed JPMorgan U.S. Research Enhanced Index Equity ETF , which trades with the ticker JREU, has consistently beaten the benchmark — not just this year and last year, but every year since 2019, and is also outperforming it in 2024. The U.S.-listed Gotham Enhanced 500 ETF , which has the ticker GSPY, has also posted similar gains since 2021. JREU The JPMorgan Asset Management fund, which currently manages $9.41 billion in assets, employs a strategy known as “research enhanced indexing” (REI), which combines index investing and active management. Piera Elisa Grassi, co-fund manager of the ETF, previously told CNBC that the fund makes numerous small bets rather than a few large ones. The result is a fund that closely mirrors its benchmark in terms of overall composition, but with slight tweaks aimed at generating excess returns. The fund is available to most European investors. JREU-GB .SPX 5Y line GSPY The Gotham Enhanced 500 ETF is a newer fund and so has a shorter track record of outperformance. Yet it has beaten the S & P 500 every year since its inception in 2021. The Gotham ETFs fund is accessible to U.S. investors through most brokers as it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Gotham ETFs say the fund “buys all 500 stocks in the S & P 500 Index but reweights them, buying more of the ones we think are cheaper and less of the ones we believe are more expensive.” GSPY .SPX 5Y line
