Buying a basket of stocks in one fell swoop -- often the province of mutual funds -- has taken an interesting turn with the recent popularity of exchange-traded funds. ETFs allow investors to buy and sell an index throughout the trading day; the typical mutual fund executes purchases and redemptions at the end of the trading day.
Yesterday, Archipelago Holdings (NYSE:AX) announced that it was getting into the ETF game. It's readying a fund based on its ArcaEx Tech 100 index of benchmark tech stocks. The gauge includes typical bellwethers like IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), but also a few biotechnology giants like Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Genzyme (NASDAQ:GENZ), and Genentech (NYSE:DNA), as well.
The ArcaEx Tech 100 already exists as a traditional mutual fund, but early next year, its ETF incarnation will allow precision-oriented investors and a pool of speculators a shot at buying, selling, and shorting the index.
For Archipelago, it's just one more achievement in an active year. Its shares have more than doubled since the company announced its impending merger with NYSE Group. This has created sweet returns for Motley Fool Rule Breakers subscribers; the stock was recommended in the February issue at $20.42, and has risen 130% since.
That's certainly a hearty return. It almost makes one wonder if Archipelago would be so bold as to include itself in the ArcaEx Tech 100 index.
Archipelago isn't the only Rule Breakers recommendation to have doubled this year. Curious? Learn more about the ultimate growth-investing strategy, and see past recommendations, with a 30-day free trial subscription.
Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz would sell himself on an online exchange if one would take him. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this article. The Fool has a disclosure policy. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.
