TheStreet.com Ratings Adds More ETFs

Richard Widows

The more recent "hits" of investment fashion -- water and "Chindia" -- are mixed with some "misses" of the past year in the latest crop of 36 exchange-traded funds to receive grades from TheStreet.com Ratings.

Mixed in with the new class of rated ETFs in the accompanying table are some that achieved success by betting against the beleaguered U.S. dollar and others that have been capitalizing on the flight to safety for which many wounded investors have been opting.

Water, described as "the next oil" by many investors, helped the Claymore S&P Global Water ETF(CGW) achieve a nine-digit asset value in little more than a year. But CGW's anemic total return of barely more than a single percentage point over the past year, coupled with a fractional slide in 2008 through the end of May, is surpassed by the First Trust ISE Water Index Fund(FIW). The latter has rewarded its holders with a total return of 13.55% for the past year and 6.20% for 2008's first five months.

Another ETF hit from First Trust is in the fashionable "Chindia" genre -- portfolios combining investments from populous China and India -- the First Trust ISE Chindia Index Fund(FNI). Although up by 14.79% over the past 12 months, it is off by almost a similar percentage for the first five months of this year.

Investors can bet against the U.S. dollar with the iPath EUR Exchange Rate ETN(ERO), the iPath GBP/USD Exchange Rate ETN(GBB) and the iPath JPY/USD Exchange Rate ETN(JYN).

All three are ahead for the past 12 months and the year to date, with the euro and the yen ETNs enjoying gains in the double digits over that period. (ETNs are similar in structure to ETFs, but they base their values on notes rather than equities or bonds.)

For investors wishing to avoid the nervous stock market, the SPDR series of ETFs has a number of fixed-income entries that are now graded by TheStreet.com Ratings. They range from the shortest term Treasuries, the SPDR Lehman 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF(BIL), to the extended maturity SPRD Lehman Long Term Treasury ETF(TLO). Investors opting for safety with these have been rewarded with positive returns over the past year, with the inflation-protected SPRD Barclays Capital TIPS ETF(IPE) up 12.86% for the period.

In the lowest possible "E" range of grades are five real estate ETFs from iShares kept company by the First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund(FRI). All six have suffered double-digit setbacks in the last year, with the subprime mortgage crunch helping to drive down the iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REIT(REM), which has crumbled 44.19% over the past 12 months.

EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS NEWLY RATED BY TheStreet.com RATINGS
NAME, TICKER & TheStreet.com RATINGS GRADE	YR-TO-DATE TOTAL RET'N (%)	12-MO. TOTAL RET'N (%)	DIV. YIELD (%)	TOTAL NET ASSETS ($MIL)	TOTAL EXPENSE RATIO (%)
Claymore S&P Global Water ETF (CGW) B-	-0.58	1.01	0.4	355.8	0.70
First Trust Consumer Dis AlphaDEX (FXD) D-	-3.83	-18.77	0.7	1.7	0.70
First Trust Consumer Stap AlphaDEX (FXG) E	-3.22	-7.19	1.2	2.7	0.70
First Trust Energy AlphaDEX (FXN) C	21.05	32.38	0.8	5.3	0.70
First Trust Financial AlphaDEX (FXO) E+	-9.44	-28.55	2.9	1.6	0.70
First Trust Health Care AlphaDEX (FXH) D+	-7.26	-7.08	0.0	3.9	0.70
First Trust Industrials AlphaDEX (FXR) D+	0.74	-4.78	0.2	4.4	0.70
First Trust ISE Chindia Index Fund (FNI) E	-14.29	14.97	0.1	104.0	0.60
First Trust ISE Water Index Fund (FIW) C+	6.20	13.55	0.4	12.3	0.60
First Trust ISE-Revere Natural Gas (FCG) C	32.64	42.04	0.2	11.2	0.60
First Trust Large Cap Gr Opp AlpDEX (FTC) C-	-3.76	-1.86	0.8	11.2	0.70
First Trust Lrg Cap Core AlphaDEX (FEX) D+	-2.62	-9.38	1.2	10.8	0.70
First Trust Lrg Cp Val Opp AlphaDEX (FTA) D	-0.42	-13.41	1.9	7.9	0.70
First Trust Materials AlphaDEX (FXZ) B+	9.17	18.00	0.6	3.1	0.70
First Trust Mid Cap Core AlphaDEX (FNX) C+	2.81	-5.84	0.6	8.0	0.70
First Trust Multi Cap Grth AlphaDEX (FAD) C+	-3.88	-3.30	0.2	5.5	0.70
First Trust Multi Cap Val AlphaDEX (FAB) D+	-2.04	-13.52	1.1	7.7	0.70
First Trust S&P REIT Index Fund (FRI) E	7.13	-13.93	4.4	1.6	0.50
First Trust Small Cap Core AlphaDEX (FYX) D	-2.69	-15.20	0.3	7.6	0.70
First Trust Technology AlphaDEX (FXL) E+	-3.84	-0.35	0.0	3.7	0.70
First Trust Utilities AlphaDEX (FXU) D-	-6.59	-9.48	9.3	1.7	0.70
iPath CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Idx ETN (BWV) C+	-0.27	1.87	0.0	14.6	0.75
iPath EUR/USD Exch Rate ETN (ERO) A+	7.22	19.44	0.0	84.7	0.40
iPath GBP/USD Exchange Rate ETN (GBB) C+	1.91	4.84	0.0	13.0	0.40
iPath JPY/USD Exchange Rate ETN (JYN) A	6.51	14.81	0.0	61.6	0.40
iShares FTSE NAREIT Indl/Off Idx (FIO) E	5.61	-12.66	1.3	4.6	0.48
iShares FTSE NAREIT Mortgage REITs (REM) E-	-11.75	-44.19	3.4	9.0	0.48
iShares FTSE NAREIT Real Estate 50 (FTY) E	7.47	-12.83	1.1	20.7	0.48
iShares FTSE NAREIT Residential Idx (REZ) E	14.50	-14.29	1.3	4.7	0.48
iShares FTSE NAREIT Retail Idx Fd (RTL) E-	6.91	-14.66	2.1	4.5	0.48
Market Vectors Global Alt Energy (GEX) C-	-7.42	33.69	0.0	238.0	0.65
SPDR Barclays Capital TIPS ETF (IPE) A+	2.72	12.86	4.8	30.4	0.19
SPDR Lehman 1-3 Month T-Bill ETF (BIL) B-	0.82	3.35	1.4	228.9	0.14
SPDR Lehman Aggregate Bond ETF (LAG) B+	1.06	7.06	3.7	64.3	0.14
SPDR Lehman Intermediate Tr Treas (ITE) A+	1.47	8.82	3.1	11.0	0.14
SPDR Lehman Long Term Treasury ETF (TLO) A-	-0.41	9.22	4.7	21.4	0.14
Source: TheStreet.com Ratings - Data as of 5/31/2008. For an explanation of our ratings, click here.

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