U.S. exchange-traded funds could face more obstacles to their runaway growth in 2025 after a bumper year saw the products take in a record $1.1 trillion in inflows in 2024.The inflows were the most in the products 35-year history and came close to doubling last years figure of $597 billion.Analysts attribute the popularity of the products to a combination of the bull market in the U.S., where the lions share of ETFs is based, the advent of innovative cryptocurrency and options-based products, and the growing preference by investors for lower-cost, liquid ETFs over mutual funds.Now, while many believe ETFs will top 2024s records in 2025, they are cautiously eyeing a new set of challenges ranging from how to navigate an increasingly crowded ETF arena to the ever-present question of innovation.I find myself thinking that new product development may have outstripped investor interest in some of the most complex of these strategies, said Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar. Not every product will land with investors.Indeed, one of Armours projections for 2025 is that the market is likely to see a record number of ETFs closing down. While asset managers shuttered some 186 funds in 202491% of which had less than $250 million in assetsArmour expects that figure to soar next year above the record of 253 set in 2023.There has been so much product development, and a lot of ETFs wont survive to reach profitability simply because they dont have anything unique enough and appealing enough to pull in assets, Armour said.According to Cerulli Research, 2023 was the first year that saw the average lifespan of an ETF decline, and by early 2024 it had already fallen below five years.Firms realize they have to be faster at closing down funds that dont attract assets and at redeploying their resources, said Matt Apkarian, associate director at Cerulli.Still, industry insiders say there are many reasons to be bullish about an industry that globally jumped to $14 trillion in assets as of Dec. 27, from $11.6 trillion as of December 31, 2023, according to industry research and consulting firm ETFGI.The number of new ETFs launched, including a dozen spot bitcoin products, reached 714 by the last full week of the year, said Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas Research at State Street Global Advisors. That compares to 543 launches in 2023 and 480 in 2021.The explosion in the number of ETFs can be traced in part to the surge in interest for products that use options to manage, limit, or even accentuate risk. The proliferation of buffer and defined outcome ETFs, which use options to trade off upside potential for downside risk, or to hit a target return, is one of the biggest features of 2024.Well be venturing into that market in the first quarter of 2025 with a buffered ETF product, said Brendan McCarthy, global head of ETF distribution and capital markets at Goldman Sachs Capital Management.The two-year-old GraniteShares 2x Long Nvidia ETF, which offers investors double the daily return on Nvidia, rose 177% in 2024, attracting more than $3.5 billion in new assets during the year to bring total assets to nearly $6 billion.Theres no reason to think that $1 trillion isnt the new normal for inflows, said David Mann, global head of ETF product and capital markets at Franklin Templeton, who is marking his 22nd year developing new exchange-traded funds. This has been a one-way train ride, and now the train is on the express track.Reporting by Suzanne McGee; editing by Megan Davies and Alistair Bell

Nine out of 10 new cars sold in Norway last year were powered by battery only, registration data showed on Thursday, placing the country within reach of its target of only adding cars that are electric on the road by 2025.Fully electric vehicles accounted for 88.9% of new cars sold in 2024, up from 82.4% in 2023, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.Top-selling brands were Tesla, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota. Chinese EVs now account for almost 10% of new car sales.Norway will be the first country in the world to pretty much erase petrol and diesel engine cars from the new car market, said Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV association.Carrot-and-stick approachOil-producing Norway penalizes petrol and diesel cars with high taxes, while exempting EVs from import and value-added taxes to make them more attractive, although some levies were reintroduced in 2023.The policy has worked because it has been consistent over time, maintained by governments of various political persuasions, experts said.Very often we see in other countries that someone puts tax incentives or exemptions and then they pull back again, Bu said.Also helpful is the fact that Norway does not have an automaker lobby.We are not a car-producing country . . . so taxing cars highly in the past was simple, said Ulf Tore Hekneby, head of Norways biggest car importer, Harald A. Moeller.Having incentives, rather than banning petrol and diesel cars, was crucial, too, said Bu. That would (have) made people angry. People dont like being told what to do, she said.The European Union has decided to ban sales of carbon-dioxide-emitting cars by 2035, but it may allow sales of cars that run on fuels made from captured CO2.Norways policies mean that fully electric cars last year overtook pure petrol cars on Norwegian roads. They accounted for more than 28% of all cars driven in the Nordic country as of December, according to Public Road Administration data.Thats the big lesson: Put together a broad package (of incentives) and make it predictable for (the) long-term, said deputy transport minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.ImpactTo be sure, while nearly all new buyers of cars in Norway have gone electric, some hold-outs remain.The main buyers of ICE (internal combustion engine) cars in Norway are rental companies because many tourists are not familiar with EVs, said Hekneby.Still, the rising share of EVs on Norwegian roads means other sectors have to adapt. At fuel stations, more and more petrol pumps are replaced with fast electric chargers.Within the next three years we will have at least as many charging stalls as we have pumps for fuel, said Anders Kleve Svela, a senior manager at Circle K, Norways largest fuel retailer.In just a couple of years more than 50% of all the cars in Norway will be electric. [. . .] We have to ramp up our charging park according to that, he added.For drivers, switching to an EV means it can take a little longer to charge a car in winter due to the cold weather.Sometimes I miss that I just can pump it full and drive off five minutes later, said Desire Andresen, 28, an in-home caregiver, charging her car at a Circle K station outside Oslo.But Im more comfortable with an electric car. [. . .] Its better for the environment and the diesel cars produce so much smell.($1 = 11.0850 Norwegian crowns)Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo. Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Mark Potter

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MacworldIf youve been keeping up with the rumors, it wont be much of a surprise when Apple releases the new iPhone SE sometime in the spring. However, a new report claims Apple still has a surprise in store for the anticipated budget phone.According to Majin Bu on X, Apple will drop the SE name for the 4th-gen model and instead name it the iPhone 16E. That would be the first name change since Apple launched the low-end iPhone as a special edition back in 2016 and the first newly named iPhone model since the iPhone 5c in 2013.Apple sold an eMac in 2002 as a low-end version of the iMac G4 with a CRT display instead of an LCD. The e in that model stood for education as it was originally only available for students and teachers.The iPhone 16E would obviously align the iPhone formerly known as the SE with the rest of the current crop. It also could signal that Apple will stop selling the iPhone 14/14 Plus (which is no longer available for sale in the EU due to its Lightning port) and the iPhone 15/15 Plus, since neither generation supports Apple Intelligence.The iPhone SE4 is expected to have a new design based on the iPhone 14 and bring numerous upgrades, including a 48MP rear camera, Face ID, a larger OLED display, and an A18 chip. It will reportedly cost more than the current $429 model but likely still stay under $500.Its unclear from the report whether the name change will put the phone on an annual cadence schedule like the other iPhones. The iPhone SE has had a very sporadic release schedule, with the current model arriving in 2022.Apple is also rumored to release a new iPhone 17 Air or Slim in September. For the latest news, stay up to date with our iPhone SE 4 and iPhone 17 guides.

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A new report backs up claims that Samsung is developing a rival to Sony's iPhone camera sensor, and adds more details about how exactly this could benefit buyers of the iPhone 18 in 2026.Render of a possible future and slimmer iPhoneSony makes the camera sensors in the iPhone and that's one of the very few times that a component is made by a sole supplier. It's been rumored before that Samsung wants to break that exclusivity, but now a new leak claims to have details of how Samsung hopes to beat Sony by producing a better sensor.Exclusive: Samsung is currently developing a "3-layer stacked" image sensor in a PD-TR-Logic configuration for Apple. Rumor Score: Possible Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The Art Institute of Chicago has shared new photos for its redesigned Architecture and Design galleries after work was completed by the Chicago-based practice Norman Kelley.The project installed a modular system of walls and columns to support a more flexible display of thematic exhibitions, creating a "fluid experience" that better supports curatorial efforts. The museum is debuting this alongside its recent acquisitions from Amanda Williams, Tatiana Bilbao, Andrs Jaque, Stanley Tigerman, and more.Image courtesy Art Institute of ChicagoNorman Kelley also worked previously with the Art Institute on a permanent display of architectural fragments from around Chicago that's located in the Women's Board Grand Staircase area. You can find out more about the duo's backstory from our 2018Next Up Mini-Sessioninterview with foundersThomas Kelley andCarrie Norman.Image courtesy Art Institute of ChicagoImage courtesy Art Institute of ChicagoImage courtesy Art Institute of ChicagoImag...