Friday screencast: a day in the life

abnormalreturns
February 18th, 2011

We are no strangers to the ETF beat here at Abnormal Returns. Barely a day goes by without a new ETF launch. Some interesting, so not so much. Today was a good day that highlights some of the trends in the ETF industry. On the positive side of the ledger there are continued signs of price pressure on ETF fees. Also more brokers are making more funds available commission-free to their clients. On the negative side of the ledger the industry continues to chase the market in terms of new, specialized fund launches. In short, while the industry continues to provide a great deal of benefit to investors (and traders) that does not mean that you shouldn’t due your homework when it comes to new fund launches. In today’s screencast a day in the life of the ETF industry.

Items mentioned in the above screencast:

The cheapest ETF portfolio gets even cheaper. (IndexUniverse)

More iShares ETFs go commission-free at Fidelity. (IndexUniverse)

A smartphone ETF that does not include Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) or Research In Motion (RIMM) amongst its largest holdings. (IndexUniverse, @jdmarkman, MarketBeat)

The First Trust NASDAQ CEA Smartphone Index Fund (FONE). (FT Portfolios)

Relative price performance chart of some smartphone players. (StockCharts)

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Tickers: $AAPL, $GOOG, FONE, NOk, RIMM