ETF Spotlight on PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), part of a recurring series.

Assets: $12.3 billion

Holdings: The index includes companies involved with computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. Some of its holdings include Apple (AAPL), Cisco (CSCO) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Objective

This fund tracks the performance of the NASDAQ-100 index, which consists of the largest domestic and international non-financial securities listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange. The NASDAQ-100 launched in January 1985.

What’s Good

The NASDAQ is the only major index in positive territory year-to-date. At this point in time, on of the biggest positives going for the index is its lack of exposure to financials, which is a sector many investors are still skittish about getting into.

The Latest News

• Cheap Valuations. Right now, many consider tech stocks to be relative bargains.
• President Barack Obama. The President has said he wants to be the “Technology President.” He is pushing for better and more affordable broadband access for all Americans, he wants to use technology to improve our schools, libraries and health care systems. He has already put his money where his mouth is: his stimulus package allocated $7.2 billion in broadband grants.
• Cash-Rich. The tech industry has plenty of well-established leftovers from the dot-com boom, and many of them are handing out dividends. Oracle (ORCL) declared its first quarterly dividend at the end of March.
• Mergers and Acquisitions. Oracle (ORCL) recently announced that it has agreed to plunk down $7.4 billion to acquire Sun Microsystems (JAVA). Oracle has long been gobbling up companies, including PeopleSoft, Siebel and BEA Systems.
• Strong Earnings. Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG) and IBM (IBM) all surpassed earnings expectations for the first quarter, while Microsoft (MSFT) met expectations.

• PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ): up 12.6% year-to-date

Tags: Asset Class ETFs, ETF 101, ETF Spotlight, Large-Cap, QQQQ, Sector ETFs, Technology