Spice up your portfolio.
If you take a look at the most popular exchange-traded funds on the market, you’ll also find some of the most plain-Jane ETFs on the market: S&P 500 tracking funds. European stock funds. Broad bond funds. Gold funds. These ETFs are simple, they’re easy to understand and they tackle well-worn investment themes that most people look to for greater exposure. But considering investors have their choice of some 1,400-plus ETFs on the market … well, you’re eventually going to come across a lesser-known oddball or two.
EGShares EM Core ex-China ETF (ticker: XCEM)
The EGShares EM Core ex-China ETF, which launched in early September, focuses on emerging markets other than China, with half of its weight spread among South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, India and South Africa, with 15 other countries helping to fill in the rest. But investors should remember that Chinese economic weakness can still make itself felt in plenty of other ways, such as less spending on phones made by South Korea’s Samsung Electronics (SSNLF). Expenses: 0.35 percent, or $35 annually for every $10,000 invested.
Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF (XMPT)
The Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF offers one of the most complicated ways of grabbing tax-free yield. Unlike some municipal bond funds, the XMPT instead holds 85 closed-end funds — another type of fund that trades over an exchange, but differs somewhat from ETFs — that hold the municipal bonds. XMPT’s holdings produce a nice SEC yield of 5.7 percent; but the downside is that all those closed-end funds charge various expenses, and a good deal of that gets passed down to investors. Expenses: 1.43 percent.
First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF (IFV)
The First Trust Dorsey Wright International Focus 5 ETF only holds at any point — you guessed it! — five funds. Fund managers use price momentum to rank various country/region-based ETFs, then place the top five into IFV at equal weights (20 percent apiece). Rankings are re-examined every week and funds are swapped in and out accordingly. The idea is pretty simple: Ride the globe’s hot hands at any given moment. IFV has only been around for a little more than a year, but so far it’s performing well. Expenses: 1.1 percent.
Barclays Return on Disability ETN (RODI)
The Barclays Return on Disability ETN is an exchange-traded note that tracks the Return on Disability US LargeCap ETN Total Return USD Index, which consists of companies that make sure that those with disabilities are treated right. But RODI is an exchange-traded note, which is a debt security that tracks an index — not a fund that holds stocks. Ergo, that means not a single penny you invest in RODI actually goes toward holding these companies. It’s a play on your heartstrings, and one that has no effect. Expenses: 0.45 percent.
AdvisorShares Pring Turner Business Cycle ETF (DBIZ)
The AdvisorShares Pring Turner Business Cycle ETF tries to invest to adapt to any market and economic climate, and it can put itself in equities, bonds, “inflation-sensitive securities” and cash to do so. For instance, DBIZ’s top holdings include 14 percent-plus in cash, with roughly 3 percent holdings dedicated to each of a pair Guggenheim equal-weight funds. More broadly, about two-thirds of the fund is invested in U.S. stocks, with another 12 percent in U.S. bonds, and another 10 percent stashed in international stocks and bonds. Expenses: 1.68 percent.
ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 (SDOW)
The ProShares UltraPro Short Dow30 is designed to deliver three times the inverse of the daily return of the Dow Jones industrial average. So, should the Dow decline 1 percent tomorrow, the SDOW should gain 3 percent (backing out fees, naturally). What’s bizarre is that it even exists in the first place … and stranger still is its relative popularity. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index simply is a better representation of the U.S. marketplace, but the SDOW still manages to trade about 2.4 million units daily. Expenses: 0.95 percent.
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6 of the Most Unusual ETFs You Can Buy originally appeared on usnews.com
