U.S. stocks ended 2024 on a high, with the S & P 500 finishing last year with gains of over 23%. While funds tracking the major indices will have logged similar returns, a handful of actively managed ETFs marketed in Europe outperformed, including JPMorgan’s US Research Enhanced Index Equity ETF and Invesco’s Quantitative Strategies ESG Global Equity Multi-Factor ETF. CNBC Pro screened 321 ETFs in Europe that are invested in equities, fixed income, or commodities, and are not leveraged or produced inverse returns. JEUS JPMorgan’s US Research Enhanced Index Equity SRI Paris Aligned UCITS ETF was the best performing ETF and gained 30.3% in 2024. It is among a new breed of funds offered by the Wall Street bank that combines passive and active investment management styles. The fund’s euro-denominated currency unhedged variant is listed in Germany with the ticker JEUS. JPMorgan Asset Management says the fund is “actively investing primarily in a portfolio of U.S. companies while aligning with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.” The 2015 Paris Agreement climate change treaty outlines a long-term objective to ensure global warming stays “well below” 2 degrees Celsius and to “pursue efforts” to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. IQSA Invesco’s Quantitative Strategies ESG Global Equity Multi-Factor UCITS ETF missed the top spot marginally, with a return of 29.9% in 2024. The fund, also listed in Germany, has $921 million in assets. Unlike the JPMorgan fund, Invesco’s ETF is invested globally with a 70% allocation to the U.S. Among the fund’s top non-U.S. stocks are Royal Bank of Canada and Ireland’s Trane Technologies . Since its inception five years ago, the ETF has also outperformed its MSCI World Total Return benchmark for the last four years. The other ETFs making up the top 5 best performing in 2024 were Ossiam US ESG Low Carbon Equity Factors UCITS ETF, JPMorgan’s Japan Research Enhanced Index Equity and Fidelity Sustainable Research Enhanced US Equity UCITS ETF. — CNBC’s Sam Meredith contributed to this report.
