iShares launched their first actively managed ETF this week on the NYSE Arca...

• ALT - the iShares Diversified Alternatives Trust.

The new ETF will consist of bond, commodity, currency and interest rate futures in order to expose discrepancies in the pricing of financial instruments. The new financial ETF wants to profit from the deviations of current asset prices and their historical norms.

Due to the complexity of the pricing structure, strategy and analysis, this new ETF will have to be "actively managed" by a fund manager in order to make it successful. While it's not the first actively managed fund to hit the market, it is definitely one of its own kind and the first of this type of ETF for iShares.

Earlier this  month I wrote some blog posts about the launch of two new State ETFs...

• Texas State ETF (TXF)
• Oklahoma State  ETF (OOK)

As of today, Geary Advisors announced they are also reducing fees on the new funds. And they are using a portion of the fees to help the fight against autism.

"Geary Advisors, LLC, announced today that it is in the process of reducing the fund fees for its two state-based exchange-traded funds OOK and TXF. The advisor has agreed to reduce investment advisory management fees and to reimburse other expenses to the extent the total annual fund operating expenses, as a percentage of average daily net assets, exceed .20 percent. A reduction or reimbursement lowers the expense ratio."

"At least 10 percent of the OOK and TXF management fees will go to support Aaron's Bridge, an Oklahoma nonprofit  organization working to establish and provide more treatment options in Oklahoma and Texas for children with developmental disabilities, including Autism Spectrum Disorder."

Charles Schwab is now part of the ETF universe by launching four new index ETFs...

1. SCHF - the Schwab International Equity ETF
2. SCHX - the Schwab US Large-Cap ETF
3. SCHA- the Schwab US Small-Cap ETF
4. SCHB - the Schwab US Broad Market ETF

SCHF is a foreign ETF that will track the FTSE Developend ex-US Index, and index with over 14oo international stocks. The two style ETFs SCHX (large-cap) and SCHA (small-cap) will track Dow Jones Indexes.

While these are the first few ETFs for Schwab, they will not be the last. They plan on rolling out more in the future. Also, in order to gain traction in the competitive ETF market, Schwab is offering online commission free trading for its customers who buy and sell these ETFs. That works.

Another new gold ETF hit the market this week. This time it's a small-cap style ETF from Van Eck Global.

GDXJ will track the Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners Index, which consists of small-cap stocks in the gold and precious metal mining industry. Some of the 38 companies included in the new ETF are New Gold Inc, Alamos Gold, and Silver Standard Resources.

Van Eck is also the mastermind behind GDX - the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF, which launched back in 2006. GDX has 31 gold mining company stocks in its holdings.

To see a list of more gold ETFs like GDXJ and GDX, look no further than our list of gold ETFs.

As you know, I have a lot of material about ETFs on this site. The good, the bad, and the not-so-ugly. However, just how good are these assets? Are they better than mutual funds?

There's no clear cut answer and every investment should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. However, if you really want to compare the two types of funds. I'm here...I mean we're here to help.

Mark Kennedy meet Lee McGowan. ETF Guide meet Mutual Fund Guide. Lee and I collaborated on our latest article comparing ETFs to mutual funds. The new piece gives you the story from both sides. Is an ETF better than a mutual fund or is a mutual fund better than an ETF? We both have are opinions, as you will see.

But wait, there's more! We also give you the inside scope on the tax implications of each product, the benefits, the risks, the whole enchilada. So without further ado...

Is an ETF Better than a Mutual Fund?

PIMCO launched two new treasury-linked ETFs last week, which track two U.S. Treasury Indexes as their benchmark.

• FIVZ - the PIMCO 3-7 Year U.S. Treasury Index Fund follows the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 3-7 Year Treasury Index and will trade on the NYSE Arca
• ZROZ - the PIMCO 25+ Year Zero Coupon U.S. Treasury Index Fund follows the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Long US Treasury Principal STRIPS Index and will also trade on the NYSE Arca.

FIVZ will consist of the 5-year treasury note along with other treasuries with similar durations and will rebalance monthly, while ZROZ will rebalance quarterly.

If you would like more information on the new ETFs, you can find it on PIMCO's website here.

Or if you'd like to see more similar ETFs, look no further than our list of bond ETFs,

Powershares has put together a new ETF to track the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Build America Bond Index. The BAB ETF will consist of securities that are eligible to partcipate in the Build America Bond Program.

The Build America Bond Program was created under the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in order to decrease borrowing costs of local and state governments.  BABs are taxable municipal bonds that are actually subsidized by the U.S. Treasury.

There are two types of BABs - direct payment and tax credit bonds. Direct Payment BABs will pay the issuer 35% of the interest payments made to investors. Tax credit BABs will pass the 35% along as a tax credit. BABs were launched in April of 2009 and have been steadily increasing in popularaity with each passing day.

Therefore, due to their newfound popularity, it was only a matter of time before someone created new bond ETFs to track their performance.  Or in the case of the new funds, tracking the BAB index.

Here are some highlights regarding the new ETF...

1. It will invest at least 80% of its total assets in taxable municpal securities elegible for the BAB program
2. It will disclose its full portfolio holdings on a daily basis
3. The securities in the fund must have an investment-grade rating
4. The securities must have at least one year to maturity
5. Securities must have a fixed coupon schedule
6. Securities must have a minimum amount outstanding of $1 million
7. Securities in the ETF must have a direct pay federal subsidy

It's not only nice to see more bond ETFs, but more ETF innovations as well. And if your looking for more bond ETF information, you've come to the right place...

What You Need to Ask About Bond ETFs

14 Types of Bond ETFs

4 Ways to Invest with International Bond ETFs

A List of Bond ETFs

As I told you in my last post about the Oklahoma State ETF (OOK), the Texas State ETF launch was not far behind. Only a few days in fact. Today, OOK Advisors launched TXF on the NYSE Arca and as of right now it's trading around $36.

The new Texas ETF invests in securities that represent a benchmark index of large publicly traded companies that have their headquarters in Texas. As for the actual holdings in the new fund, they can be found on the TXF website as well as some other pertinent information.

So now that we have Texas and Oklahoma, how long until I can get a Pennsylvania ETF for my portfolio?

No, it's not a college football ETF, it's actually a state ETF...

OOK - The Oklahoma ETF tracks the SPADE Oklahoma Index, which consists of the major companies in that state.

The new fund launched yesterday and as I told you in an earlier blog post, a Texas state ETF (TXF) ain't far behind. So if this piques your interest or your portfolio, you might want to watch OOK and see how it reacts to different market conditions.

We love commodity ETFs around these parts, so we're excited to hear that ALPS has two new ones coming out...

• CRBA - the Jefferies TR/J CRB Global Agriculture Equity Index Fund
• CRBI - the Jefferies TR/J CRB Global Industrial Metals Equity Index Fund

CRBA will trade on the ARCA and track the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB In-The-Ground Global Agriculture Equity Index. Stocks in the ETF and indexwill be involved in production and distribution of agricultural commodities and services.

CRBI will also trade on the ARCA and track the the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB In-The-Ground Global Industrial Metals Equity Index. Stocks in this ETF and its underlying index, will be involved in the metal mining industry. Metals like aluminum and steel.

When it comes to commodity ETFs, we only have three words...keep 'em comin'.