New Powershares ETFs

PSP -- PowerShares Listed Private Equity Portfolio - Potential High Risk, trades in publicly-listed companies that use private equity. It's stock symbol PSP should play to the teenager crowd.
PUW -- (Phew?) PowerShares WilderHill Progressive Energy Portfolio - Contains Honda, Toyota, Siemens.  The index has been rising steadily since Oct 3, dropping only once. 

 

9/1/2006 226.54
9/5/2006 226.89
9/6/2006 221.06
9/7/2006 219.47
9/8/2006 219.63
9/11/2006 216.75
9/12/2006 221.63
9/13/2006 221.89
9/14/2006 222.58
9/15/2006 222.78
9/18/2006 223.28
9/19/2006 219.94
9/20/2006 221.58
9/21/2006 219.65
9/22/2006 216.22
9/25/2006 218.03
9/26/2006 220.65
9/27/2006 222.04
9/28/2006 223.58
9/29/2006 221.55
10/2/2006 220.27
10/3/2006 218.32
10/04/2006 222.55
10/05/2006 225.16
10/06/2006 223.97
10/09/2006 224.92
10/10/2006 226.88
10/11/2006 226.55
10/12/2006 229.82

PZD -- PowerShares Cleantech(TM) Portfolio

The unfortunately-named PZD sounds like something that just got electricuted. If you believe in the electric car conspiracy, these may not be the funds you're looking for.

Cleantech Index™
The Cleantech Index™ (CTIUS) includes over 50 US publicly traded "clean" technology companies that offer a diverse range of products, services, and processes designed to improve productivity and efficiency, while reducing environmental impact. The CTIUS includes nine sectors that span industries such as alternative energy, water resources and purification, advanced materials, and logistics. All of the companies in the CTIUS are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, or the American Stock Exchange. [more]

September proved a difficult month for some alternative energy stocks. Shares of ethanol companies dropped as the price of ethanol dipped to $1.75 and its use as an alternative to MBTE may have hit its cap.

During September, the major stock indices rose on lower-than-average volume. Through Sept. 28, the Russell 2000 Index rose 1.7 percent, the S&P 500 Index increased 2.7 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed a hefty 4 percent. By comparison, the Cleantech Index™ declined 2 percent as weak performance from select alternative energy stocks (Distributed Energy Systems Corp. [DESC], (35 percent); KFx Inc. [KFX], (34.6 percent); and Capstone Turbine [CPST], (34.6 percent)). The index experienced a 10 percent-or-greater decline in 15 of its 68 constituents), while 10 stocks rose 10 percent or more (APCC, MDTL, DIOD, INGR, PLL, WLM, DCI, ENER, SUPX, and GTI). Overall, 31 constituents rose while 37 declined. A number of cleantech companies made announcements or were affected by macro trends in September. The following are some of the more significant ones.

 

Cleantech Index Top 10 Positions

   Company Name
Symbol
% Weight

Medis Technologies Ltd
MDTL
1.92%

Energy Conversion Devices Inc
ENER
1.80%

Maxwell Technologies Inc
MXWL
1.73%

Ballard Power Systems
BLDP
1.70%

Plug Power Inc
PLUG
1.69%

Power-One Inc
PWER
1.69%

Zoltek Cos Inc
ZOLT
1.67%

Synargro Tech
SYGR
1.65%

Emcore Corp
EMKR
1.64%

Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd
STP
1.63%