Nasdaq 100 Trust

BlackRock Canada to unveil C$-hedged Nasdaq ETF

The iShares NASDAQ-100 Index Fund [CAD-Hedged] will be hedged back into the Canadian dollar and begins trading on May 9th, said BlackRock Canada’s Managing Director, Mary Anne Wiley. The ticker on the TSX is XQQ. Management fee is 0.35%.

XQQ meets the need for portfolio diversification by providing investors access to US sectors that can withstand economic cycle transitions, such as health care and technology, she adds in a press release scheduled for release today.

While rival BMO ETFs has had a similar ETF on the market since January 2010, there is sufficient customer demand for such an addition to the iShares product lineup, she said in an interview.

Apple no longer makes up 20% of index One of the biggest ETFs in the world is the QQQs , traded in New York and priced in US dollars. It tracks the NASDAQ-100 Index, which is made up of 100 of NASDAQ’s largest nonfinancial companies based on their market capitalization.

Canadians can still buy the “Cubes” as they are known but those wishing to  hedge back the US dollar exposure can do so by paying a slightly higher Management Expense Ratio  on either the BMO version or now the new iShares ETF.

Because it’s market-cap weighted, the Nasdaq-100 and ETFs tracking the index all have been hugely overweight certain technology names, notably Apple Computer Inc., which until recently accounted for one fifth of the index.  [The exception is the equal-weighted First Trust NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Fund: QQEW.]

Canada’s RIMM one of handful of foreign tech holdings

However, the index was recently rejigged so  Apple’s weighting is now slightly over 12%, as can be seen in the list of holdings in the comparable BMO NASDAQ 100 Equity Hedged to CAD Index ETF [ticker ZQQ/TSX].

While the Nasdaq-100 does not consist exclusively of technology stocks, a good two thirds of it is: Microsoft is the second largest holding at 8.4% and Oracle Corp. is third at 6.8%. It also holds Google and Intel and popular Internet stocks like Amazon.com, Yahoo Inc. and eBay Inc. Among the non-tech holdings are Starbucks Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp., Staples Inc. and Wynn Resorts Ltd.

More than 90% of the index is in American stocks, but there is a smattering of foreign stocks, including Canada’s Research in Motion.

For more information on iShares, click here .

Market Timing Pro - Powershares Nasdaq 100 QQQ Trust (NYSE: QQQ ...

Shares of the ETF Powershares Nasdaq 100 QQQ Trust (NYSE: QQQ) broke above its declining trend resistance line in Wednesday’s April 20 rally. This line was the upper line of a pennant pattern that we wrote above previously and which, when broken, would point to the direction of the Q’s in coming weeks.

A rising line drawn from the March 16 lows through today’s lows and continued to the right on a daily chart creates a rising trend support line.

Connecting the February 16 and April 4 highs in the same way and extending the line to the right creates a declining trend resistance line. This is a pennant pattern.

A break of either of these lines (closing price) would likely be followed by a continued move in the direction of the break.

On Thursday, April 21, the Q’s gapped higher at the open and rallied again into the close. This confirmed the prior day’s breakout of the pennant formation.

The Q’s still need to close above their prior rally high at $58.88, about 1% higher. But this holiday shortened week has pointed to higher highs for the Q’s.

The Fibtimer.com ( http://www.fibtimer.com ) ETF Timing Strategy holds a position in the Powershares Nasdaq 100 QQQ Trust.

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