ETF Watch: New Listings (June 12 - June 18)

By Heather Bell

NEW LISTINGS

First Trust Launches First Wind Energy ETF

First Trust Advisors launched the first wind energy exchange-traded fund on the NYSE Arca on June 18. The First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund trades under the symbol FAN and charges a net expense ratio of 0.60%.

With oil well over $100 a barrel and global warming concerns growing, alternative energy sources are rising to the forefront and investors are certainly taking a greater interest in them lately. Wind energy is just one facet of a broad trend, and seems to be an area ripe for growth. The Global Wind Energy Council [GWEC] projects that the global wind market will grow 155% by 2012 and account for 3% of global electricity production.

FAN's underlying index, the ISE Global Wind Energy Index, was developed by the International Securities Exchange and currently has 52 components. The index is weighted by modified market capitalization. Pure-play wind energy companies have a total weighting of about 66% (or two-thirds) of the index, while companies that are simply involved in the wind energy industry among their other business activities, such as Siemens and General Electric, represent about 33% (one-third) of the index's total weight.

The fund’s top five holdings include Vestas Wind Systems (10.06%), Repower Systems (9.94%), Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica (8.82%), Hansen Transmissions International (6.50%) and Japan Wind Development Co. (4.81%).

Read the prospectus for FAN here.

Rydex Launches Leveraged, Inverse Select Sectors

On June 12 Rydex Investments launched eight new ETFs. Each will be branded as RydexShares and provide leveraged or inverse exposure to S&P Select Sector indexes. While the leveraged funds seek to capture 200% of the daily performance of their underlying indexes, the inverse funds provide the opposite (-200% of the daily performance).

The new inverse funds include the Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Energy ETF (AMEX: REC); the Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Financial ETF (AMEX: RFN); the Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Health Care ETF (AMEX: RHO); and the Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Technology ETF (AMEX: RTW). The new leveraged funds are the Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Energy ETF (AMEX: REA), Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Financial ETF (AMEX: RFL), Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Health Care ETF (AMEX: RHM), and Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Technology ETF (AMEX: RTG).

Each fund charges an expense ratio of 0.70%. ProShares offers a more complete family of leveraged and inverse sector funds tied to the Dow Jones sector indexes, but each fund carries an expense ratio of 0.95%.

Read the prospectus for the funds here.

ProShares Rolls Out Two Short Sector Funds

June 12 saw the launch of a raft of leveraged and inverse sector funds. The bulk were from Rydex, but two were additions to the ProShares lineup.

The two latest are the Short Oil & Gas ProShares (AMEX: DDG) and the Short Financials ProShares (AMEX: SEF), bringing the firm’s total number of sector ETFs to 26. The new funds track the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas Index and the Dow Jones U.S. Financials Index, respectively, offering -100% of the daily return of those indexes. ProShares already offers “UltraShort” ETFs tied to those same indexes – the firms UltraShort ETFs attempt to capture -200% of the daily performance of their underlying indexes.

The new ProShares are priced at 0.95% each.

Read the prospectus for SEF and DDG here.

PowerShares Launches Two ETFs On NASDAQ

On June 12, Invesco PowerShares launched another two exchange-traded funds on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

One was the long-awaited PowerShares NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Portfolio (NASDAQ: PQBW), which tracks the CBOE NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Index. A "BuyWrite" strategy tracks a theoretical portfolio that sells call options on a particular index, against a portfolio of that same index's component stocks—in this case, the index in question is the NASDAQ-100.

PQBW charges an expense ratio of 0.75%.

The other fund to launch was the PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio (NASDAQ: PNQI), which tracks the NASDAQ Internet Index. The index encompasses firms involved in a wide variety of Internet-related business activities, from access providers to search engines to online commerce.

PNQI charges 0.60%.

Read the prospectus for PQBW here.

Read the prospectus for PNQI here.

New ETNs Are First Under DB, PowerShares Co-Branding Deal

Deutsche Bank once again expanded its lineup of leveraged and inverse exchange-traded notes covering portions of the commodities markets with the launch of two product suites for base metals and crude oil on the NYSE. However, now it is co-branding the products with PowerShares, as it has done with its commodity and currency ETFs. Existing Deutsche Bank ETNs will also be re-branded under the “PowerShares DB” label.

The new funds include the following:

• PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Short ETN: (NYSE: BOM)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Long ETN: (NYSE: BDD)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Short ETN: (NYSE: BOS)
• PowerShares DB Base Metals Long ETN: (NYSE: BDG)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN: (NYSE: DTO)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Short ETN: (NYSE: SZO)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN: (NYSE: DXO)
• PowerShares DB Crude Oil Long ETN: (NYSE: OLO)

The long and double long ETNs seek to capture 100% and 200% of their underlying indexes' monthly performance, while the short and double short ETNs promise -100% and -200% of their underlying indexes' monthly performance.

The base metals ETNs are linked to the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index - Optimum Yield Industrial Metals, which tracks aluminum, copper and zinc futures contracts. The oil contracts, however, are linked to two different indexes. SZO and DTO, the short notes, are tied to the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index - Light Crude; while OLO and DXO, the long notes, are tied to the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index - Optimum Yield Crude Oil. The "Optimum Yield" index uses a different roll methodology that optimizes returns when the oil market is in backwardation and minimizes losses when the market is in contango.

All of the new ETNs charge an expense ratio of 0.75%.

Read the prospectus for the base metals ETNs here.

Read the prospectus for the crude oil ETNs here.

New Listings: June 7 - June 11
Fund	Symbol	Exchange	Expense Ratio	Listing Date	Asset Class
First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index Fund	FAN	NYSE Arca	0.60%	6/18/2008	International - Sectors
Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Energy ETF	REC	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Financial ETF	RFN	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Health Care ETF	RHO	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex Inverse 2x S&P Select Sector Technology ETF	RTW	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Energy ETF	REA	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Financial ETF	RFL	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Health Care ETF	RHM	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Rydex 2x S&P Select Sector Technology ETF	RTG	AMEX	0.70%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Short Oil & Gas ProShares	DDG	AMEX	0.95%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
Short Financials ProShares	SEF	AMEX	0.95%	6/12/2008	Leveraged
PowerShares NASDAQ-100 BuyWrite Portfolio	PQBW	Nasdaq	0.75%	6/12/2008	Strategy
PowerShares NASDAQ Internet Portfolio	PNQI	Nasdaq	0.60%	6/12/2008	Sectors - Technology
PowerShares DB Base Metals Short ETN	BOS	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Short ETN	BOM	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Base Metals Double Long ETN	BDD	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Base Metals Long ETN	BDG	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Short ETN	DTO	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Crude Oil Short ETN	SZO	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN	DXO	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities
PowerShares DB Crude Oil Long ETN	OLO	NYSE Arca	0.75%	6/17/2008	Commodities