Claymore Joins ETF Scrum

Another company has thrown itself into the exchange-traded fund arena, offering a small lineup of products, but one that is sure to raise a few eyebrows.

On Thursday, Claymore Securities -- known best for its role in the closed-end fund and unit investment-trust spaces -- launched five ETFs on the American Stock Exchange. The products, which track everything from corporate insider trading to neglected stocks, add a new and interesting twist to ETFs; however, opinions are split on how these products will fit into investors' portfolios.

David Cohen, managing director of Claymore, says these products are a departure from many of the ETFs currently on the market, which mainly give investors exposure to different sectors, market caps, regions or company components such as dividends.

The Claymore funds, he says, enable people to invest in a strategy, all within the confines of the ETF.

For instance, the Claymore/BNY BRIC ETF (EEB) is designed to track the four fastest growing emerging markets -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- also known as the BRIC countries. According to Cohen, "this is a long-term growth story," as these countries are eventually expected to have a higher combined gross domestic product than that of the G6 nations combined.

Here's the rest of the Claymore ETF lineup:

The Claymore/Sabrient Insider ETF(NFO) looks for positive trends in insider buying and Wall Street analyst upgrades. The idea behind this product is that corporate insiders and analysts are most familiar with companies' long-term prospects and the underlying stocks.