Exchange Funds are investment funds developed in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s as an alternative to mutual funds. Initially the exchange traded funds tracked the major stock indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrials, the NASDAQ, and the S&P 500; however, there are exchange traded funds today whose assets include oil and other commodities; precious metals, such as gold and silver; domestic and international bonds, such as US Treasury bonds. Investors who prefer to monitor sectors of the economy as opposed to individual stocks.
