The major U.S. benchmarks all gave up 2% on September 1, 2009. Moreover, losers on the NYSE outnumbered winners by a margin of 5 to 1.

None of the activity should have come as a surprise. In fact, volatility on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) was on the cusp of surging above a 50-day trendline for weeks, suggesting increased selling pressure was imminent. In addition, riskier small caps, emerging markets and tech stocks had underachieved in August.

There are some fundamental reasons for this change that will help them sustain their export growth. Exports will be the leading reasons for the growth the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for several years to come. Look to align your portfolio with the sectors that benefit from exports.

I mentioned last week that I was seeing a group of AplhaDEX ETFs on the TradeRadar Trend Leaders list. I was not at all familiar with the name, but since they were performing so well I felt they deserved a look. It turns out they are managed by First Trust and they are intended to provide superior performance by taking fundamentals into account when selecting the stocks that make up each style or sector portfolio.

Index Universe first wrote about these ETFs way back in 2007 (here's the link from Seeking Alpha).

By Matthew Hougan

What's the best U.S. total market ETF?

If you're looking at January performance, the answer is clear: the ELEMENTS Benjamin Graham Total Market ETN (BVT).

Many of our readers at AboutETFs.com enjoyed our earlier article The Complete List of Currency ETFs and have been requesting a similar list for commodities. So, once again, by popular demand, here is our newest list, The Complete List of Commodity ETFs and ETNs, as of October 20, 2008.

COMMODITY BASKETS (All Commodities)

A great deal has been said about stock markets’ performances during October, and specifically about the reversal of fortune during the last week of the month. (I covered this topic extensively in Sunday’s “Words from the Wise” post.)

For the sake of completeness, I provide the performance tables for various stock markets below. The performances are given in both local currency and U.S. dollar terms for different measurement periods ended October 31.

By Jim Wiandt

Monday, however, saw a number of these funds with high volume, perhaps signaling an increasing interest. Below is the list of AlphaDEX funds for which I have sufficient data to calculate the majority of these parameters, sorted by the number of millions of dollars they have traded this past month.

The Day / Avg. Week $ field indicates the percentage of the past week's average dollar volume that was traded in the prior session. As you can see, seven of these AlphaDEX funds saw dollar liquidity at over 200% above average. Though these funds exemplify the diversity and opportunity that ETFs can bring to the market, until reasonable liquidities are present, most investors will hesitate to take non-trivial positions.

Roger Nusbaum submits: A new slew of ETFs:

• First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX Fund (FXD)
• First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX Fund (FXG)
• First Trust Energy AlphaDEX Fund (FXN)
• First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund (FXO)
• First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund (FXH)
• First Trust Industrials AlphaDEX Fund (FXR)
• First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (FXZ)
• First Trust Technology AlphaDEX Fund (FXL)
• First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (FXU)
• First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund (FEX)
• First Trust Mid Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund (FNX)
• First Trust Small Cap Core AlphaDEX Fund (FYX)
• First Trust Large Cap Growth Opportunities AlphaDEX Fund (FTC)
• First Trust Large Cap Value Opportunities AlphaDEX Fund (FTA)
• First Trust Multi Cap Growth AlphaDEX Fund (FAD)
• First Trust Multi Cap Value AlphaDEX Fund (FAB)
• First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI)

I will check out the sector funds and the small cap value.

And not just the 500th … the industry roared past the 500 mark, to 515, as seventeen new ETFs from First Trust launched on the American Stock Exchange. Sixteen of those funds make up First Trust’s new “AlphaDEX” family of ETFs, which use quantitative strategies in an attempt to beat the market. They are:

The American Stock Exchange [Amex] announced Thursday the launch of 17 new First Trust ETFs. Sixteen of the new funds track the performance of so-called 'enhanced' indexes managed by Amex or Standard and Poors that select stocks using a proprietary, rules-based AlphaDEX fundamental stock methodology. These ETFs include three core funds (large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap), large- and mixed-cap growth and value funds, and nine sector funds (consumer discretionary, staples, energy, financials, healthcare, industrials, materials, tech, utilities). The 17th fund is the First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund [FRI], which tracks the S&P REIT composite index. Goldman Sachs, Susquehanna, and Kellogg will split specialist duties on the funds.

A spokeman for First Trust explained that this process incorporates a rigorous discipline that attempts to minimize style tilt, eliminate “noise” and deliver a consistent story.

First Trust AlphaDEX Sector ETFs
First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX Fund (FXD)
First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX Fund (FXG)
First Trust Energy AlphaDEX Fund (FXN)
First Trust Financials AlphaDEX Fund (FXO)
First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX Fund (FXH)
First Trust Industrials/Producer Durables AlphaDEX Fund (FXR)
First Trust Materials AlphaDEX Fund (FXZ)
First Trust Technology AlphaDEX Fund (FXL)
First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX Fund (FXU)