ETFs going socially responsible
New funds based on screened index, clean energy
marketwatch.com
By John Spence, MarketWatch
Last Update: 9:45 AM ET Feb. 1, 2005
BOSTON (MarketWatch) -- Now that they've muscled their way into almost every segment of domestic and international markets, the exchange-traded fund business has its sights set on moving into socially responsible investing.
On Monday the iShares KLD Select Social Index Fund (KLD: news, chart, profile) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The ETF's tracking index, maintained by Boston-based research firm Kinder, Lyndenberg, Domini & Co., contains 250-350 large-cap non-tobacco companies taken from the S&P 500 and Russell 1000 indexes.
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Socially responsible investing has been gaining steam in recent years with over $29 billion in such funds, according to investment research firm Lipper.
Clean energy ETF on deck
An ETF based on an index of publicly-traded energy companies that focus on environmentally-friendly sources of energy and technologies is set to begin trading on the American Stock Exchange later this month.
The ETF, which will be managed by PowerShares Capital Management, will track the WilderHill Clean Energy Index, a benchmark calculated by the Amex that was launched in August. The Amex collaborated with index provider WilderShares, LLC in developing the index.
The index contains 37 companies that use greener and renewable energy alternatives such as wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel cells.
As of Jan. 27, the top companies in the index were Distributed Energy (DESC: news, chart, profile) , Evergreen Solar (ESLR: news, chart, profile) and Zoltek Companies (ZOLT: news, chart, profile) , according to the Amex.
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