Smart Grid ETF Launched by First Trust Advisors

Amid the flurry of new ETFs coming to market this week, it appears I missed the launch of First Trust NASDAQ Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund (GRID) on Tuesday (11/17/09). This ETF focuses on stocks in the electric energy infrastructure and distribution grid subsector. The fund will typically invest in companies engaged in electric grid, metering equipment and devices, networks, energy storage and management, and enabling software used within the smart grid infrastructure.

The underlying index uses a modified capitalization weighting with “pure play” companies receiving an 80% allocation and “diversified” companies receiving just a 20% allocation. The expense ratio…

Stock Watch: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC), Palm (NASDAQ: PALM)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) and Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) will cease insuring checking domestic accounts above the standard $250,000 limit, one year after the government set up the program to ease fears of deposit runs. The banks plan to exit the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s Transaction Account Guarantee Program at year end. The program was among emergency measures created in October 2008 to shore up confidence in the banking system and avert a collapse of financial markets. Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) plans to opt out on October 16. -Bloomberg

Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) shares rose 8 percent on…

Ryan Davies Finds Hot Technology Produces Solar Power for Half the Price

Source: The Energy Report

A shining example of using the sun’s energy to heat, cool and light the homes and businesses of a desert community in California is poised to power up next year. It’s due in part to the emergence of a technology that uses refraction rather than reflection to produce solar power on a utility-size scale at half the price of photovoltaic technology. But major credit also goes to the pioneering efforts of REDCO, a privately held company, which Ryan Davies established last year to unite free-market concepts with sound environmental policy. The Energy Report caught up with Ryan in the…

Five Tips for Trading ETFs

Every week I tell you about exchange traded funds (ETFs) that you can use for various investment purposes. You could be wondering, though, what’s the best way to buy them. So in today’s column I’ll give you some practical information that will help you implement whatever ETF investment strategy you might want to pursue.

Professional investors make a distinction between portfolio management and trade execution. You might not be a professional, but you can still use the same thought process …

Portfolio management is when you make the decision to buy or sell a particular security. Normally there will be limits on the…

Technology Rises and Buying Facebook: Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY), Mastercard (NYSE: MA), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

Technology stocks have done well this year. The Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK) bottomed out in March and by late October was up more than 60%. Tech has performed better than any other sector year-to-date – up 33.7% as of Friday’s close.

Part of the tech gain is related to how new media companies are categorized. Some of the stocks that make up the sector probably don’t belong there. Companies like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Ebay (NASDAQ: EBAY), and Mastercard (NYSE: MA) are considered tech stocks. The first two inherited the space because they are more internet-based than other companies. However, Google is…