The U.S. stock market is finally soaking in the summer sun as the major hurdle to the stock market rally has been cleared up. This is especially true as Greek lawmakers have passed a bailout agreement easing the fears of a debt crisis and the China stocks are showing an impressive rebound from the recent sell-off.
This has pushed the major U.S. indices to near their all-time highs. In fact, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones are 0.4% and 1.4% short of their record highs while the Nasdaq Composite Index hit another all-time high, logging in the best weekly gains in nearly nine months.
A string of earnings beat and the Fed's positive testimony triggered off the risk-on sentiments in recent sessions. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's recent comment also point to an optimistic outlook on the world's biggest economy. As the economy is reviving after a first-quarter slump, the Fed will raise interest rates sometime this year, though the rates would remain at lower levels “for quite some time after the first increase.”
Further, the initial phase of increase would actually be good for the stocks as it would reflect an improving economy and a lower risk of deflation. Not to forget, merger mania, rising consumer confidence, fat wallets, and rising income are the biggest tailwinds for the stocks, suggesting that 2015 is the year of growth. All these factors led to smooth trading in the ETF world with several products hitting all-time highs in the past couple of trading sessions (read: Great ETF Picks for 2nd Half of 2015).
While there are winners in every corner of the space, we have highlighted five high flying ETFs that are not concentrated on a specific sector but focus on the broad market instead. Any of these could be compelling choices for investors seeking to ride out the summer rally in the weeks ahead.
iShares Russell 1000 Growth ETF ((IWF – ETF report))
This ETF provides exposure to the large cap growth segment of the broad U.S. equity market by tracking the Russell 1000 Growth Index. Holding a broad basket of 646 securities, the fund is highly concentrated on the top firm – apple (AAPL –Analyst Report) – at 6.7% share while other firms hold no more than 1.93% of assets. From a sector look, more than one-fourth of the portfolio is dominated by information technology while consumer discretionary, health care, industrials and consumer staples round off the top five with double-digit allocation each.
The product has $30.2 billion in AUM and sees solid trading volume of over 1.7 million shares. It charges 20 bps in annual fees from investors. The ETF hit a record high of $102.88 per share on Friday, representing a gain of about 16% in the past one-year time frame. It has a Zacks ETF Rank of 2 or ‘Buy' rating with a Medium risk outlook.
iShares S&P 100 ETF ((OEF – ETF report))
The fund offers exposure to 101 mega-cap U.S. stocks by tracking the S&P 100 index. It is tilted toward the top firm – AAPL – at 6.3% while other firms hold no more than 3.20% of assets. About one-fourth of the portfolio is dominated by information technology while health care and financials round off the next two spots, with over 15% allocation for each (see: all the Large Cap ETFs here).
