7 of the Most Unusual ETFs
Life + Money

7 of the Most Unusual ETFs

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The number of exchange-traded funds, which track indexes or baskets of assets but trade like stocks, has mushroomed in recent years, growing from one in 1993 to more than 100 in 2001 to nearly 1,100 now. As investors channel more and more money into these funds, the ETF industry continues to chop up the world of securities into ever-narrower pieces, allowing investors to put money into specific countries, regions, asset classes, or investment themes. As Morningstar ETF analyst Timothy Strauts writes: “Today anyone with a brokerage account can invest in Russian rubles, South Korean small caps, cocoa, carbon credits, and short Latin American stocks with 300% leverage.” Or as ETF provider iShares put it in a long-running ad campaign: "We'll stop making ETFs when you stop having ideas."

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