ETF Spotlight: Schwab U.S. Broad Market (SCHB)

April 28th at 2:00pm by Tom Lydon

ETF Spotlight on Schwab U.S. Broad Market (NYSEArca: SCHB), part of a weekly series.

Assets: $189 million

Objective: Tracks the Dow Jones U.S. Broad Stock Market Index

Holdings: SCHB includes the 2,500 largest companies in the United States and generally gives the same weight to a stock as the index it tracks does; top holdings include Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and General Electric (NYSE: GE).

What You Should Know

SCHB launched on Nov. 3; since then, it’s up 16.7%
Year-to-date, it’s up 7.9% and is outpacing the S&P 500, which is up 6.2%
SCHB is the most popular fund in Schwab’s lineup
It has an expense ratio 0f 0.08%, one of the lowest on any ETF, and can be traded free on Schwab’s platform [Schwab ETFs Hit $1 Billion in Assets.]
The fund is 42.2% giant-cap companies, 30.3% large-cap, 19.9% mid-cap and 7.5% small-cap
The top-weighted sectors are information technology, 18.1%; financial, 17.8%; consumer discretionary, 12.4%; and industrials, 11.7%.

The Latest News

This fund may be a good option for investors who want to play the U.S. recovery effort, since it has heavy exposure to some sectors that have been on the move in recent months.
The financial sector may be the most troubled, thanks to the Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) charges and the threat of sweeping financial reform.
Technology has been a post-recession leader; the NASDAQ is the top-performing index, up 16.8% year-to-date. [Tech ETFs Riding High.]
Consumer discretionary has been getting some new life as consumers feel a little more free to spend; continuing jobs weakness, though, could derail this sector. [Retail ETFs Near Three-Year Highs.]
The industrial sector has been heating up lately as more orders for aircraft come in, auto sales spike and infrastructure investment continues. [Top ETFs to Play Industrials.]