The markets are recovering, albeit slowly, and investors are wading back in to buy exchange traded funds (ETFs). Most of those investors, at one point or another, will come across these five ETFs, the most heavily traded ones in the markets.
SPDRs S&P 500 (NYSEArca: SPY), currently up 15.6% year-to-date, with average daily trading volume of 189 million, corresponds to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Index. The fund has a net expense ratio of 0.09%.
Sector allocations: information technology, 18.6%, financials, 15.2%, health care, 13.1%, energy, 11.7%, consumer staples, 11.6%, industrials, 10.2%, consumer discretionary, 9.2%, utilities, 3.7%, materials, 3.5%, telecom services, 3.2%
PowerShares QQQ (NasdaqGM: QQQQ), currently up 38.4% year-to-date, with daily average trading volume of 133 million, seeks to track the Nasdaq-100 Index. The fund consists of all stocks in the Index, which includes 100 of the largest domestic and international nonfinancial companies. QQQQ has an expense ratio of 0.2%.
Sector allocations: consumer discretionary 13.3%, consumer staples 1.1%, health care 16.3%, industrials 4.9%, info. tech. 63.1%, materials 0.6%, telecom services 0.8%