Commentary

In early August, Morningstar rated two exchange-traded funds from the PowerShares Intellidex family 5 stars. On its face this would not exactly be a "stop the presses" moment. After all, we rate thousands of funds and ETFs, and many of them earn 5 stars. However, what is notable is that Dynamic Large Cap Value and Dynamic Mid Cap Growth are the first quantitative-active ETFs to earn such a designation. Although this is a seemingly a small event now, we can see this pair of 5-star ratings helping to usher in a new era of ETF investing and fund creation.

First, we should define the term "quantitative-active" as it relates to ETFs. I won't say that we've coined the term, but you should get used to us using it. By quantitative-active ETFs, we are talking about rules-based ETFs that are effectively trying to add alpha to … Full Story

I've been getting a lot of user feedback regarding several alternative-energy and infrastructure-related funds, and it's easy to see why. Several of these themes, such as wind and solar power, or the highly anticipated global infrastructure build-out over the next decade, have intriguing merits. What irks me, though, is the insistence of the representative ETFs issued over the past year that have large allocations of utility investments.

Take the two wind ETFs that have surfaced over the past two months: First Trust Global Wind Energy and PowerShares Global Wind Energy (PWND). Let me start by saying that both of these funds give investors significant exposure to the biggest names in wind power equipment producers, a feat that is not easily accomplished by U.S. investors because most of these firms are based in Europe … Full Story