T. Rowe Price International Equity ETF

TOUS

Market cap $1.37B

New data from the month of March once again showed big inflows for active ETFs. Even as global economic conditions are teetering as the U.S.-Israel-Iran war continues, investors continued to drive assets into actively managed ETFs — so much so that they significantly outpaced passive ETF inflows despite AUM disparities between categories.

T. Rowe Price launched a new emerging markets equity ETF on Thursday, expanding its active exchange-traded fund lineup into one of the fastest-growing investment categories. The T. Rowe Price Emerging Markets Equity Research ETF (TEMR) began trading on the NYSE Arca with a net expense ratio of 0.

It's only March, and the VIX is up 62.4% YTD. It's hardly surprising that the market volatility metric has risen so much, so quickly.

On this special episode of the “ETF of the Week” podcast, VettaFi's Head of Research, Todd Rosenbluth, reviewed some of his favorite ETF of the Week picks from 2025 with Chuck Jaffe of Money Life.  Chuck Jaffe: One fund on point for today.

With just a few weeks left in 2025, investors are looking to take observations from 2025 and act on them in the new year. One area that has stood out and may be poised to do so again is international, with 2025 producing robust returns for international ETFs.

If asked to pick a big story for markets in 2025 outside of A.I., it's hard to look past the consistent strength of international equities ETFs.

Active ETFs are gaining traction with investors as lower fee structures improve the odds that fund managers can outperform passive benchmarks, according to a recent Morningstar report.

Looking at emerging market investing options? Ex-U.S. equities — emerging markets included — have been robust performers for portfolios this year, providing a strong source of upside outside of AI-infused megacap tech stocks.

TOUS offers active management in developed markets, but its deviations from passive benchmarks are conservative and don't deliver significant alpha. Performance slightly outpaces EFA and VEA, but outperformance is inconsistent and not substantial enough to justify higher fees. Yield is lower and expenses are higher than major passive peers, making the cost-benefit of TOUS less attractive for most investors.

International equities have stood out in an uncertain 2025, providing diversification and a big boost to portfolios amid tariff uncertainty. That said, not all equities strategies are created equal.