An emerging trend  that has far reaching implications has crashed into the exchange traded funds marketplace. Namely, proprietary branded ETFs from brokerage firms with zero online commissions. It seems a natural evolution for the exchange traded fund investing crowd, though admittedly offers more funds in an already crowded ETF space.

Scottrade became the latest online broker to join this movement by launching 15 new ETFs called the “FocusShares.”

Online trading of the FocusShares ETFs will be available commission-free to Scottrade brokerage customers and registered investment advisors using Scottrade Advisor Services as their custodian. Investors and advisors who are not Scottrade brokerage customers can purchase Focus Morningstar ETFs through their brokerage firms by paying applicable commissions.

“As a company committed to helping people make better investment decisions, these new ETFs are a logical extension of the products and services Scottrade has been providing for 30 years, said Scottrade Founder and CEO Rodger Riney. “There is a growing demand for ETFs among individual and institutional investors as well as financial advisors and we wanted to provide funds that we believe investors could find great value in that haven’t been available before.”

Here’s a list of the FocusShares with their corresponding expense ratios:

• Focus Morningstar US Market Index ETF (NYSE: FMU) – 0.05%
• Focus Morningstar Large Cap Index ETF (NYSE: FLG) – 0.05%
• Focus Morningstar Mid Cap Index ETF (NYSE: FMM) – 0.12%
• Focus Morningstar Small Cap Index ETF (NYSE: FOS) – 0.12%
• Focus Morningstar Basic Materials Index ETF (NYSE: FBM) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Communications Services Index ETF (NYSE: FCQ) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Consumer Cyclical Index ETF (NYSE: FCL) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Consumer Defensive Index ETF (NYSE: FCD) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Energy Index ETF (NYSE: FEG) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Financial Services Index ETF (NYSE: FFL) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Healthcare Index ETF (NYSE: FHC) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Industrials Index ETF (NYSE: FIL) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Real Estate Index ETF (NYSE: FRL) – 0.12%
• Focus Morningstar Technology Index ETF (NYSE: FTQ) – 0.19%
• Focus Morningstar Utilities Index ETF (NYSE: FUI) – 0.19%

FocusShares, LLC is a registered investment advisor, a sponsor and affiliate of Scottrade. The firm was acquired by Scottrade in June 2010.

New iShares China ETF

In other ETF news, BlackRock unveiled the iShares MSCI China Index Fund (NYSE: MCHI). The fund’s underlying index tracks the top 85% of equity securities by market capitalization in the Chinese equity markets. Stocks within the index are weighted based by their market capitalization or size.

As of the end of February, the largest sector weightings of the index include financials (37.0%), energy (18.4%) and telecom (11.4%). MCHI charges annual expenses of 0.61%, according to the prospectus.

iShares now offers 40 international single country ETFs.

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