# ETF Newsletter - October 2026 (First Trust)

> First Trust’s paper “ETF Newsletter - October 2026”, summarized by ETFIQ with its own data beside it. Summary by ETFIQ.

Data as of Oct 21, 2026. Rebuilt every trading night.

Published Oct 15, 2026 by First Trust. Summary by ETFIQ as of Oct 21, 2026.

## ETF Newsletter - October 2026

First Trust's October 2026 ETF newsletter reports that its AIRR industrials fund fell 22.5% in the third quarter, as stocks tied to AI data centers weakened.

First Trust · Issuer · Read the full paper at First Trust ↗

### What it says

Figures as stated by First Trust, Oct 15, 2026

- First Trust says AIRR's forward P/E fell from 24.9x to 18.1x over the quarter, against a 10-year average of 17.0x. (First Trust, p. 1)

- First Trust says the Q3 drop was AIRR's sixth decline of more than 20% since the fund began in 2014. (First Trust, p. 2)

- First Trust notes the 10-year US Treasury yield rose from 4.47% to 5.28% in the quarter, the highest since 2007. (First Trust, p. 1)

- First Trust cites an NBC News poll where 69% of respondents opposed a local AI data center, and SemiAnalysis's count of over 300 US cities and counties pausing or banning them. (First Trust, p. 1)

- First Trust, citing Aterio.io, reports 79 gigawatts of US compute capacity under construction and 433 gigawatts announced, against 54 gigawatts operating. (First Trust, p. 2)

### Related ETFs

The funds the paper names that ETFIQ covers

- AIRR First Trust RBA American Industrial Renaissance ETF: +1.2%

Figure: total return, 1 year, to Oct 21, 2026, from each fund’s page. All 415 thematic ETFs →

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### Questions people ask

What does the First Trust paper conclude? First Trust's October 2026 ETF newsletter reports that its AIRR industrials fund fell 22.5% in the third quarter, as stocks tied to AI data centers weakened. The paper’s own words are at the link above. What is a thematic ETF? A fund that holds companies tied to one theme, such as AI or defense, picked by an index or a manager rather than by size alone. Where can I read “ETF Newsletter - October 2026”? On First Trust’s own site. ETFIQ summarizes the paper and does not host it.

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Source: ETFIQ, independent ETF data. Recomputed nightly from public filings and prices.
Cite: ETFIQ, ETF Newsletter - October 2026 (First Trust), summary, as of Oct 21, 2026. https://etfiq.com/research/library/first-trust-etf-newsletter-october-2026/
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