Wall Street ETFs & AI Prompts for Investing Themes

This Week’s Focus: Turning Seasonal Trends into Portfolio Insights

Seasonal events often create brief openings for tactical capital allocation. For most retail investors, the challenge is recognizing which developments matter and translating them into investable ideas.

The Thanksgiving travel surge offers a timely example. Holiday-week mobility affects airlines, hotels, booking platforms and leisure operators, but the impact varies widely across individual companies. Thus, Wall Street ETFs provide a more efficient way to capture the theme and reduce single-name risk during narrow tactical windows.

Structured AI prompting turns event-driven intuition into a repeatable process: identify the trend using current data, map it to ETF exposures, test those exposures under different assumptions and evaluate timing and risk. The same framework can be applied to any seasonal or event-driven opportunity.

ETF Examples to Capture Thanksgiving Travel Demand

Here are several ETFs that provide varied exposure across airlines, travel platforms, hotels, leisure companies and consumer spending:

U.S. Global Jets ETF (JETS):

Launched in 2015, JETS provides exposure to the global airline industry, including airline operators and manufacturers. Expense ratio: 0.60% per year

Current top holdings:

Amplify Travel Tech ETF (AWAY):

Launched in 2020, AWAY provides access to technology-focused companies across the global travel and tourism ecosystem. Expense ratio: 0.75% per year

Current top holdings:

Invesco Dynamic Leisure and Entertainment ETF (PEJ):

Launched in 2005, PEJ offers exposure to 30 U.S. leisure and entertainment companies selected using factors such as momentum, quality, management actions and value. Expense ratio: 0.57% per year

Current top holdings:

Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY):

Launched in 2016, IBUY provides global exposure to companies deriving significant revenue from online retail, including e-commerce platforms and digital marketplaces. Expense ratio: 0.65% per year

Current top holdings:

Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY):

Launched in 1998, XLY offers broad exposure to major U.S. consumer discretionary companies, capturing trends in retail, travel, entertainment and household services. Expense ratio: 0.08% per year

Current top holdings:

AI Prompts in Action: Turning Seasonal Clues into Portfolio Frameworks

Below are two examples showing how AI prompts may help translate current data into portfolio thinking.

📌 Prompt Example 1: Mapping Thanksgiving Travel into ETF Ideas

Travel behavior for the 2025 holiday season presents a mixed backdrop. Deloitte’s 2025 Holiday Travel Survey shows that 54% of Americans plan to travel between Thanksgiving and mid January, the highest share in five years, yet average budgets have fallen 18% to $2,334. High-income travelers are also cutting back on flights and upgrades. This creates a theme driven by strong activity but weaker pricing power, which makes ETF selection especially relevant.

Context: Travel intent is rising, but spending per traveler is declining.
Role: ETF analyst evaluating tactical opportunities linked to consumer mobility.
Task: Identify ETFs with the cleanest exposure to increased travel activity while accounting for softer pricing power.
Constraints: Compare performance, sector weights and sensitivity to discretionary spending.
Outcome: Highlight ETFs best positioned for higher travel volumes under tighter budgets.

Here’s a structured prompt:

📌 Prompt Example 2: Stress-Testing Seasonal Allocation Ideas   

Seasonal themes can shift quickly if conditions change. Weather disruptions, softer spending or operational issues can affect travel-related ETFs in different ways. A simple stress test helps determine which exposures hold up best when the backdrop moves away from the base case.

Context: Event-driven trades can reverse quickly.
Role: Portfolio risk manager assessing short-term thematic positions.
Task: Build two stress scenarios—one with stronger-than-expected demand and one with weaker demand or operational challenges.
Constraints: Use assumptions of +10%/–15% revenue impact.
Outcome: Determine which ETFs remain most resilient and identify indicators to monitor.

Here’s a structured prompt:

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Key Takeaway

The goal is not to forecast a single holiday trend but to strengthen the logic behind short-term thematic allocation. By adjusting only the context line of the prompt, the same structure can uncover event-driven opportunities across sectors—from a December retail surge to summer energy demand. A repeatable prompting framework sharpens timing, consistency and differentiation in portfolio research.

Thank you for reading AI in Investment Research & Finance. Here’s to spotting tomorrow’s market stories today.

Until next time!