QQQE is up nearly 29% year-to-date and currently trades at $51.30, just 41 cents below its all-time high. The rival First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund (NasdaqGS: QQEW) is also higher by nearly 29% despite Apple, Amazon (NasdaqGM: AMZN) and Google (NasdaqGM: GOOG) combining for less than 3.5% of the ETF’s weight. [Nasdaq 100 ETF Takes Equal-Weight Approach]
Investors have been buying into the Nasdaq equal-weight approach as QQEW has attracted almost $139 million in assets this year. That is more than half its current AUM total of nearly $262 million. QQEW is currently 20 cents below its all-time high.
The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund (NasdaqGS: QQXT) is the star of the Nasdaq ETF group with a year-to-date gain of 32%. QQXT has been hitting all-time highs despite its exclusion of tech stocks. What would seem like an impediment is not because the QQXT allocates nearly two-thirds of its combined weight to consumer services names (Amazon for example) and health care (think biotech). [Take the Nasdaq, Leave the Tech]
First Trust NASDAQ-100 Ex-Technology Sector Index Fund
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of Apple, Amazon, Google and QQQ.