News & Research

This year, STOXX is celebrating the 15th anniversary of its Thematic indices suite, which has grown alongside investors’ continued push to tap into long-term megatrends shaping the modern world.

The Deka STOXX Future Water ESG UCITS ETF was launched today and tracks the STOXX Future Water ESG index. The strategy allows investors to participate in opportunities linked to this scarce natural resource and the forward-looking investment theme it underpins.

The underlying STOXX Global Quantum Computing index selects companies through a unique systematic process of scanning candidates’ patents, annual reports and corporate websites.

Prices for the metal have climbed 24% this year amid ongoing structural demand and mining disruptions. The STOXX® Global Copper Miners index has performed more than twice as well — jumping 55% in 2025. We look at what’s inside the index.

European defense and AI stocks were the focus of discussion during a breakout session at this year’s gathering in Frankfurt. ETF experts from Amundi and BlackRock weighed in on the drivers and outlook for two of the market’s strongest investment themes this year.

The STOXX Global Junior Gold Miners and STOXX Global Silver Mining indices have each risen 126% in 2025 amid record prices for the underlying precious metals.

In a recent webinar, Lukas Ahnert, Senior Product Specialist at Xtrackers by DWS, and Arun Singhal, Head of Product Management and Client Success at STOXX, discussed the drivers behind Europe’s stock rally and the latest investment strategies designed in collaboration by both firms.

The underlying index combines revenues- and patent-based stock selection methodologies, capturing companies across the spectrum and life cycle of the targeted themes.

Large-scale investments in the area of AI infrastructure — such as semiconductors and cloud computing — herald gains in company efficiencies and profits in coming years. The iShares AI Infrastructure UCITS ETF, which tracks a STOXX index, has topped USD 100 million in assets only nine months following its launch in December last year.

Amid strong demand for European defense stocks this year, seeking ‘pure’ exposure to the theme through military equipment revenues has enabled investors to outperform.

Seismic shifts in the environment, technology and socio-demographics — known as megatrends — as well as geopolitical drivers are transforming our world and creating investable themes such as artificial intelligence, defense, digital assets and energy transition metals. Thematic indices offer investors a chance to target the beneficiaries of these trends.

AI is a vast and complex theme that covers multiple conceptual areas and technologies. How do patents help identify the AI innovators that are selected into STOXX thematic indices? We asked EconSight’s Kai Gramke and STOXX’s Ladi Williams.