Exchange-traded fundshave become one of the most popular investment vehicles during their relatively brief history. Now, though, one major discount brokeris preparing to offer ETFs in a way that few have seen before: free of charge.
Morenew ETFs? Yawn Charles Schwab (Nasdaq: SCHW) recently announced that its investment management arm would introduce eight new ETFs. That by itself is nothing special. All sorts of money management companies -- from ETF industry giants like Barclays (NYSE: BCS) Global Investors and State Street (NYSE: STT) Global Advisors, to newcomers like bond-guru company Pimco-- have given investors a steady stream of new ETFs to choose from.
In addition, Schwab's ETFs don't exactly add much to the universe of investments already available. The four ETFs that started trading yesterday include a large-cap fund, a small-cap fund, a broad-market fund that includes both large-cap and small-cap stocks, and an international fund. Here's a quick rundown of the new ETFs:
Fund
Expense Ratio
Top Holdings Include
Schwab US Broad Market ETF
0.08%
ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM)
Schwab US Large-Cap ETF
ExxonMobil
Schwab US Small-Cap ETF
0.15%
Human Genome Sciences (Nasdaq: HGSI), Aeropostale
Schwab International Equity ETF
HSBC (NYSE: HBC), BP (NYSE: BP)
Source: Schwab. Continued...
Dan Caplinger is a contract writer for The Motley Fool.
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