ETF XRAY

UTILITIES REVERSE

SECTOR: Utilities - Three of the seven Utility ETFs have recently reversed into columns of O’s. There reversal was enough to cause the overall value of the sector to decrease in value by 2.34% down from the 14.66% YTD high achieved at $53,747. The three ETFs primarily responsible for the reversal are UTH, PRFU, and VPU. If you own a utilities ETF in your portfolio keep a close eye on it while the sector is in a column of O’s.

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By DE Smith | MyPortfolioView

Utility ETFs Take Top Position From Real Estate ETFs

A lot has been written recently on the Utilities sector. Utility ETFs have surpassed the Real Estate sector as the top performing sector since January 2006. Each of the five ETFs is up in excess of 29% over the last 15 months. IShares DJ Utility Sector Index fund (IDU) leads the way with 33.60%. Vanguards Utilities Vipers (VPU) is close behind with 33.58%. The sector as a whole is up 31.98%.

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By DE Smith | MyPortfolioView.com

Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU)

Today, Exelon Corp. (EXC) announced its first quarter results, reporting that profit increased 73% helped by improved margins on its competitive energy sales and higher nuclear power output. Exelon's adjusted operating earnings per share rose 72% year-over-year and topped the Wall Street expectations. The below point & figure chart of [XLU] SELECT SECTOR SPDR FUND owns 4,601,399 shares of Exelon Corp. (EXC). A 100 share position of XLU with the help of EXC is up 14% YTD, and 33.52% since January 2006.

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By DE Smith of Go2MYPV.com

Utilities Sector ETFs enjoy double digit gains so far this year

The utilities sector of ETFs has helped investors see nice gains through the first quarter of 2007. The five main ETFs in this sector are each maintaining a demand status signified by a column of X’s. January and part of March saw a modest correction into supply. Investors should use caution for now may be a little late to join the party. The earlier birds have already seen a 13% increase overall since January.

By DE Smith of MyPortfolioView

Global Utilites, Energy ETFs Stay Firm While Real Estate Pulls Back

While global markets have been turbulent, three sectors and the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track them have done fairly well as investors looked for safety and energy prices climbed.

Global Energy Sector ETFs such as (IXG) had a strong week as the price of crude oil moved back over $60 a barrel and Global Utilities Funds like iShares S&P Global Utilities Sector (JXI) and WisdomTree International Utilities Sector (DBU) represent the classic defensive sector, extended their winning streak to seven straight weeks. But Global Real Estate funds and ETFs such as the SPDR DJ Wilshire International Real Estate ETF (RWX) saw their seven week, $6 billion run of inflows come to an end as investors factored in their fears of slower than predicted economic growth into demand projections for commercial space.

There are also several domesatic utility options such as S&P Select Utilities SPDR (XLU), iShares Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index (IDU) and the Vanguard Utilities (VPU).

By Carl Delfeld of the Chartwell ETF Advisor

There are four major cap-weighted utility sector ETFs

S&P Select Utilities SPDR (AMEX:XLU) tracks the 32 utilities in the S&P 500.
Utilities Holdrs (AMEX:UTH) has 19 names that Merrill Lynch picked.
IShares Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index (AMEX:IDU) is a basket of 76 stocks. The top 10 names make up 43% of the portfolio.
Vanguard Utilities (AMEX:VPU) is 90-stock index of large-, mid- and small-cap U.S. companies. Despite the quantity, the 10 largest firms account for 42% of assets.

As of Friday's close, Utilities Holdrs had the best one-month return, 3.4%. But of the four, it sports the lowest Relative Strength Rating of 66. The other three share similar Relative Strength Ratings in the 60s and roughly equal Accumulation/Distribution Ratings of B+.
S&P Select Utilities SPDR costs the least per share at about 38 a share. It's also the most liquid and trades an average 3.2 million shares daily.

The second-largest fund, iShares Dow Jones U.S. Utilities Sector Index, trades merely 52,000 shares daily on average.

Water and Natural Gas ETFs On the Way

The First Trust family of exchange-traded funds or ETFs announced yesterday through a press release that it is working with the International Securities Exchange to introduce three new ETFs.

One ETF will track a basket of companies that derive a significant portion of their revenue from the water business. Another ETF will do the same for companies in the natural gas industry. Both of these ETFs are expected to be available to investors in May of this year and do not yet have ticker symbols.

The third ETF will be launched later in the year is a Chindia (China -India) ETF which will track a basket of Indian and Chinese companies that are listed on U.S. exchanges. These three new ETFs will add to the stable of First Portfolio's twelve ETFs now available to ETF investors.

Utility ETF XRAY

When you carefully examine the top five holdings of the best known utility ETFs you see some huge similarities. The top five holdings are for the most part identical. The one ETF that breaks the mold is PUI. Instead of going with EXC as its top holding like the other three it went with FE to the tune of 5.19%. TXU is also missing along with DUK and D. Not only are these top dogs not in the top five, they’re not in the portfolio at all. After comparing these four ETFs in a portfolio with 100 shares each at the open on January 3, 2006 shows PUI leading the pack.

The holdings data based on 12/30/05 as recorded on the American Exchange are as follows:

1. Exelon Corp. (EXC) 
   1. iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (IDU) 7.66%
   2. PowerShares Dynamic Utilities (PUI) 5.07%
   3. Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU) 6.81%
   4. Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU) 9.29%
2. Duke Energy Corp. (DUK)
   1. (IDU) 5.16%
   2. (PUI) 0%
   3. (VPU) 5.88%
   4. (XLU) 6.67%
3. Dominion Resources Inc. (D)
   1. iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (IDU) 5.65%
   2. (PUI) 0%
   3. (VPU) 5.69%
   4. (XLU) 7.02%
4. Southern Co. (SO)
   1. iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (IDU) 5.51%
   2. (PUI) 4.94%
   3. (VPU) 5.26%
   4. (XLU) 6.71%
5. TXU Corp. (TXU)
   1. iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (IDU) 4.89%
   2. (PUI) 0%
   3. (VPU) 4.14%
   4. (XLU) 6.35%