‘Fracking’ Fund Among 11 New ETFs

by Kyle Woodley | February 21, 2012 4:45 pm

The ever-growing family of exchange-traded funds grew by another 11 last week, with bonds, developed countries and energies among the prominent ETF investing flavors.

Van Eck, which offers more than 40 ETFs under the Market Vectors brand — most notably the Gold Miners ETF (NYSE:GDX[1]) — added the Market Vectors Unconventional Oil & Gas ETF (NYSE:FRAK[2]), which targets companies involved in newer methods such as hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”).

The cap-weighted, passive index fund’s top 10 holdings include familiar names like Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY[3], 8.19% weighting), Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES[4], 5.18%) and Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK[5], 3.98%) and sports a reasonable 0.54% expense ratio. InvestorPlace’s Aaron Levitt discusses the FRAK ETF in further detail here.[6]

The remaining 10 funds launched last week were split between First Trust Advisors and BlackRock (NYSE:BLK[7]).

BlackRock, which operates the iShares family, unleashed the MSCI Emerging Markets Consumer Discretionary Index Fund (NYSE:EDMI[8]) — an index-tethered ETF with a 0.69% expense ratio and top holdings including Hyundai, Kia, Tata Motors and LG Electronics — as well as four bond funds:

• iShares Barclays GNMA Bond Fund (NYSE:GNMA[9]), 0.32% expense ratio
• iShares Financials Sector Bond Fund (NYSE:MONY[10]), 0.3%
• iShares Barclays CMBS Bond Fund (NYSE:CMBS[11]), 0.25%
• iShares Aaa – A Rated Corporate Bond Fund (NYSE:QLTA[12]), 0.15%

First Trust launched five enhanced index ETFs, all with 0.8% expense ratios, including a pair of small-cap funds:

• First Trust Emerging Markets Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE:FEMS[13])
• First Trust Australia AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE:FAUS[14])
• First Trust Canada AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE:FCAN[15])
• First Trust Switzerland AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE:FSZ[16])
• First Trust Developed Markets ex-US Small Cap AlphaDEX Fund (NYSE:FDTS[17])

Including last week’s additions to the ETF investing world, 57 new funds have been brought to market in 2012, including 35 in February, according to XTF.com[18]. Among last month’s new ETFs were a batch of iShares funds listed on the new BATS exchange[19].

Kyle Woodley[20] is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com[21]. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Follow him on Twitter at @KyleWoodley[22]. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[23].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/02/fracking-fund-frak-etf-investing-ishares-van-eck-first-trust/

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