For every portfolio need, there is an ETF to fill it. Whether you’re looking in a niche area of the market or need an all-encompassing broad-based fund. Here is a simple breakdown from Aaron Levitt on Investopedia to help get you started.

Theme Funds: Some ETFs track an index centered around a theme or niche of the market, ranging from small-caps to solar energy, and everything in between. Examples of this include Claymore Global Solar Energy (NYSEArca:TAN) or Vanguard Small Cap ETF (NYSEArca:VB).

Broad-based “simple” ETFs: Broad-based funds are all-encompassing fund that give total exposure to a segment of the market. There are plenty of broad-based ETFs that can help get any portfolio on the right track. For instance, SPDR S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY) and Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSEArca: VTI) can get you started. (Four rules for ETF investing).

Bonds: This area should not be forgotten, and can add the right amount of diversification from the equity market. Vanguard Total Bond Market (NYSEArca: BND) is a broad-based bond ETF that covers most bases. (How bonds are overcoming challenges).

Extras: Once the core of your portfolio is in place, you can play around with the extras and the niche or fancy funds. iShares S&P North American Natural Resources (NYSEArca: IGE) is a good example of this. (Do alternative ETFs belong in your portfolio?)

Becoming a good trader: Being a good trader involves education, time, patience, trial and error and a willingness to examine your good moves along with the bad ones. (10 tips to improve your ETF game).

A Plan: Last, but not least, you need a plan for investing. Assess your risk, your time horizon and your strategy. We use a trend following strategy, which you can read about in The ETF Trend Following Playbook.

For more stories about ETFs, visit our ETF 101 category.

According to Gary Gordon for ETF Expert, there is a slight discernible difference between the five largest net exporters and net importers as shown in their respective ETF growths.

Net importers’ five-year total % change:

• Vanguard Total U.S. Market (NYSEArca: VTI): 12.8%
• iShares MSCI United Kingdom (NYSEArca: EWU): 10.7%
• iShares MSCI Spain (NYSEArca: EWP): 91.7%
• iShares MSCI France (NYSEArca: EWQ): 35.1%
• The India Fund (NYSE: IFN): 129.4%

Net exporters’ five-year total % change:

• iShares FTSE China 25 Index (NYSEArca: FXI): 173.9%
• iShares MSCI Germany (NYSEArca: EWG): 53.9%
• Central Europe/Russia Fund (NYSE: CEE): 91.3%
• iShares South Korea (NYSEArca: EWY): 90.5%
• iShares MSCI Netherlands (NYSEArca: EWN): 46.3%

The data shows that percentage gains are leaning toward exporters and developing countries, more export-dependent, are producing larger percentage returns.

Gordon makes the distinction that successful investing in seemingly export-type countries is more dependent on overall economic growth and less to do with the large “net exporter” moniker.

For more information on ETF trends, visit our trend following category. Read more of Gary Gordon’s ETF observations at ETF Expert.

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Last week, a solid majority of fund types reported their best weekly inflows of the year while money market funds experienced large outflows, writes Joe Morris for Ignites.

EPFR Global data shows where all the money has moved: $1.62 billion went into global bond funds, $540 million found its way into emerging-market bond funds, $925 million funneled into the real estate sector, $1.74 billion flowed into global equity funds, and money funds lost $47.2 billion.

Some ETFs representing these areas include:

• SPDR Barclays International Treasury Bond Fund (NYSEArca: BWX): up 6.6% year-to-date

• PowerShares Emerging Mkts Sovereign Debt (NYSEArca: PCY): up 37.7% year-to-date

• iShares Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction (NYSEArca: ITB): up 37.2% year-to-date

• SPDR S&P World ex-US (NYSEArca: GWL): up 25.9% year-to-date

• WisdomTree U.S. Current Income Fund (NYSEArca: USY): up 2.1% year-to-date

Commodity sector funds also added $1 billion last week, accumulating more than $9 billion in year-to-date inflows.

• iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust (NYSEArca: GSG): up 2.8% year-to-date

Investors are becoming more confident, but many still remain cautious about the market. U.S. bond funds have seen net inflows every week this year and recently saw an increase by $2.79 billion. Global bond funds have seen inflows for 23 straight weeks.

• iShares Lehman 7-10 Year Treasury Bond Fund ETF (NYSEArca: IEF): down 5.4% year-to-date

Value funds are outperforming growth funds for the first time since late August. U.S. stock funds received $340 million, mid-cap ETFs, U.S. sector funds and actively managed big-cap growth funds all raked in new money as big-cap blend ETFs saw outflows.

• Vanguard Total Stock Market (NYSEArca: VTI): up 22.8% year-to-date

• Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: VV): up 20.8% year-to-date

Max Chen contributed to this article.

Many ETFs have been trending higher in recent weeks, says Gary Gordon for ETF Expert. The pattern of the funds recovering indicates that while investors are more willing to take on risk than they were a year ago, there is still some fear lingering.

The stimulus package is proving to lead to increasing business access to credit and government-stimulated GDP.

Some of the ETFs that have been on the move by varying degrees in the last month or so include:

• iShares Investment Grade Bond (LQD)
• iShares High Yield Junk (JNK)
• SPDR International Treasury Bond (BWX)
• JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond (EMB)
• iShares S&P Preferred Index (PFF)
• iShares Lehman Treasury 20-Year Treasury Bond (TLT)
• Vanguard Total U.S. Market (VTI)
• Vanguard Developed Europe Pacific (VEA)
• Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets (VWO)

TLT’s presence on the list is evidence that there’s still some worry hanging around. Treasury debt prices rose on Wednesday, in fact, as investors wondered whether the recovery had staying power, reports  John Parry for Reuters. Investors also don’t seem to be up for taking on much risk via commodities, Gordon points out.

There will still be market pullbacks and corrections as well as profit-taking, but pick your spots. There are several areas that are in uptrends – you just have to look for them. At ETF Trends, we use the 200-day-moving-average to spot market trends and patterns.

For more stories about trend following, visit our trend following category.

A few tips, courtesy of both ETF Trends and John Spence for MarketWatch:

• The so-called plain-vanilla ETFs are the funds that should be remembered when you’re getting started, regardless of your age. After the recent market meltdown, the leveraged and inverse ETFs have been hogging the headlines. Broadly diversified funds have gotten lost in the mess.
• ETFs sporting rock-bottom fees and tracking wide swaths of the market are better tools for most investors, and can help build a broadly diversified portfolio. For many individual investors, depending on your goals, it may be all you need.
• A core portfolio will create a diverse mix of asset classes, spreading risk out and slowly building wealth over time. This strong mix will get investors through both a bear and a bull market as well.
• Investors who want to take a more hands-on approach should have a strategy for getting in and out of positions. Buy-and-hold is a strategy that has burned many investors recently; the time to take charge is now. By creating specific entry and exit points, you give yourself a chance to take a position in time for a potential long-term uptrend, while limiting your losses on the downside.

Among the many broad-based ETFs:

• SPDR (SPY): up 10.2% year-to-date

• Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI): up 12% year-to-date

• iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA): up 12.8% year-to-date

For more stories about ETF investing, visit our ETF 101 category.

If you are looking to dabble in the market, or just starting out on your investment path, there are investment options that do not require much of an initial deposit. Many low-expense mutual funds have minimum deposit requirements of $2,500 or more, not exactly chump change for some.

Scott Burns for Dallas News suggests opening a brokerage account and investing in ETFs. Many ETFs have low expense ratios, such as the Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI) at 0.25%, along with superior diversification benefits. Even combined with commission fees, you are way under the load fees of many mutual funds. The longer you hold your position, the more the fee is spread out, yielding great cost efficiency.

Whether you’re starting out large or small, ETFs have benefits for investors of all types. Visit our education page to learn about their benefits, how to choose one, how to cut down costs and how short and leveraged funds work.

ETFs can also be easily combined with a trend-following strategy. Learn how to put one to use here.

Looking at the past three months and the last year, active stock ETFs by PowerShares are performing by as much as 5% better than their passive counterparts, writes Murray Coleman for IndexUniverse. PowerShares’ “active” ETFs provide a level of freedom to trade and don’t track a benchmark. It should be noted that these actively managed ETFs do have higher expense ratios compared to passive ETFs, but they’re still less expensive than mutual funds.

The four PowerShares active ETFs in the markets include:

• PowerShares Active Mega Cap Fund (PMA), which is comprised of the best performing large-cap stocks last year, has outperformed its passive competitors, iShares S&P 100 Index (OEF) and the Vanguard Mega Cap 300 Index (MGC),  by 3.5-5% in the last three months. PMA includes around 30 mega-cap stocks, which tries to outperform the Russel Top 200 index, and so far fared better than the Russell by 5% for the year. Compared to MGC, PMA has more exposure to energy (21.7%), health care (25.2%), and technology (31.8%), but it has less exposure in consumer staples (6.6%), financials (6.8%), and industrials (1.8%).

• PowerShares Active Alpha Multi-Cap Portfolio (PQZ) may take up a range of different stocks. It has done 3% better compared to the average multi-cap core mutual fund and the Lipper multi-cap index. Compared to its closest competitor, Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), it has more sector allocations in technology (40%) and materials (15.7%), but it is lighter in consumer discretionary (1.9%), consumer staples (3.4%), health care (9.7%), industrials (3.8%) and no exposure to utilities.

• PowerShares Active AlphaQ Fund (PQY) is made of 50 top-ranked names from the Nasdaq composite benchmark. Its passive rival, the PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ), seems to be doing a little bit better. PQY differs in the fact that it holds around 6.5% in financials. It now holds 49.8% in technology and lately it is has been holding more in software companies. Furthermore, PQY has no allocations in energy.

• PowerShares Active Real Estate Fund (PSR) focuses on real estate investment trusts with most investments in REITs. It has beaten broad-based index tracking funds, like the Vanguard REIT Index ETF (VNQ). Managers of PSR may select stocks of non-REITs with large real estate holdings that don’t distribute earnings and they are given the option to temporarily invest in cash under market distress.

Max Chen contributed to this article.

The new program is designed to keep 9 million homeowners in their homes, through refinanced mortgages or loans that are modified to lower monthly payments. The administration, launching what it calls the “Making Home Affordable” initiative, said that borrowers will have to provide their most recent tax return and two pay stubs, as well as an “affidavit of financial hardship” to qualify for the $75 billion loan modification program, which runs through 2012, reports Alan Zibel for the Associated Press.

Undermining the housing weakness is the unstable job market. U.S. private sector job losses went up in February, suggesting substantial employment declines in governments payroll reports due on Friday. ADP said on Wednesday that private employers cut 697,000 jobs in February versus a revised 614,000 jobs lost in January, reports Burton Frierson for Yahoo Finance.

The service sector shrank for the fifth straight month in February, a result of growing layoffs and a deepening recession. Marcy Gordon for the Associated Press reports that the Institute for Supply Management reported that its services index fell to 41.6 last month from 42.9 in January.

The past five days of heavy selling within the stock market has spurred a move higher for stocks. The latest government plan to help troubled homeowners and the Chinese stimulus plan has given investors the sign they need for a possible recovery. Sara Lepro for the Associated Press reports that industrial and commodity-related stocks, boosted by a sharp increase in oil prices, are leading the market.

• Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI): down 22.2% year-to-date; down 9.7% for one week

Oil rose $1.65 to $43.30 a barrel in electronic trading. Last week, refiners ramped up operations to help increase demand, helping oil prices rise up. MYMEX crude oil futures jumped 8%, reaching above $45 per barrel, reports Reuters.

• PowerShares DB Oil (DBO): down 11.3% year-to-date; up 1% for one week

Costco (COST) profits are down 27%, as discounting hurt margins and the strength of the dollar eroded international revenue. Lauren Coleman-Lochner and Sarah Shannon for Bloomberg report that net income fell to $239.7 million in the quarter ended Feb. 15, down from $327.9 million. International outlets open at least a year declined 11% in the three-month period.

• Retail HOLDRs (RTH): down 10.7% over three months, down 5.7% over one week

If you take $500,000 and invested this money into a low-cost index fund or an index ETF, with an annual cost of 0.35% for an expense ratio, fund expenses over 20 years would be $36,188. Ron DeLegge for ETF Guide shows us that a mutual fund would incur much more in expenses, with brokerage costs, management fees, sales loads and taxes, totaling up to $300,000.

Here are five ETFs that are from the five key fund categories, with the lowest costs:

• iShares S&P GSCI Commodity Indexed Trust (GSG): The expense ratio is 0.75% and includes areas such as energy,  industrial metals, agriculture, livestock and precious metals.
• SPDR’s nine sector ETFs: All nine of the specific sector focused Spiders are 0.65%. Financials (XLF) and Health Care (XLV) are a few. SPDR lowered their fees recently.
• Vanguard Total Bond Market (BND): Comes with much lower fees than a bond fund at 0.11%.
• Vanguard Emerging Markets (VWO): With an expense ratio of 0.25%, need we say more?
• Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI): A good, low-cost, U.S. stock market fund, this ETF covers the range of asset classes.

Low fees are a great sign of some healthy competition in the ETF industry. As ETFs grow in popularity, this is probably something we’ll be seeing a lot more of. It all serves to benefit the investor.

The best total market performer in January is awarded to the ELEMENTS Benjamin Graham Total Market ETN (BVT) which outstripped the closest competitor by 11%, reports Matthew Hougan for IndexUniverse.

Comparing total market ETFs for January 2009:

• ELEMENTS Benjamin Graham Total Market ETN (BVT): up 6.4%
• iShares Russell 3000 Growth ETF (IWZ): down 5.1%
• Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTI): down 8.1%
• SPDR Total Market (DJW 5000) (TMW): down 8.2%
• iShares Russell 3000 (IWV): down 8.4%
• iShares DJ US Index (IYY): down 8.5%
• iShares S&P 1500 Index (ISI): down 8.9%
• iShares Russell 3000 Value (IWW): down 11.6%

The performance in these funds is pretty tight, but as you narrow down into specific sectors and sub-sectors, investors will begin to notice wider ranges in performance. The variance in one-month returns for the top- and bottom-performing ETFs for each of the 11 size/style boxes ranges from 4.0%, mid-cap growth ETFs, to 28.1%, small-cap value ETFs. In evaluating the core sectors, the difference between top- and bottom-performing funds range from 1.8% in telecom funds to 25.9% in financial ETFs.

The noteworthy aspect of this analysis is that if an investor looks beyond the large-scale total market funds and into the specific sectors, the choice of ETFs start to become more important. A trader should also meticulously examine each ETF within given asset classes and find the one that will closely reflect one’s views of the market.