To The Cloud: First Trust To Introduce First Cloud-Computing ETF

First Trust, the Illinois-based ETF issuer with 59 funds on the market and over $8.2 billion assets under management, filed plans with the Securities and Exchange Commission to introduce the First Trust ISE Cloud Computing Index Fund. The ETF will track the ISE Cloud Computing Index and trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker “SKYY” with an expense ratio of 0.6%. While the cloud-computing sector has become a hot corner of the technology universe, it appears as though First Trust will be the first ETF issuer to bring a cloud-specific ETF to market. SKYY will make its debut on July 6th with 40 holdings including plenty of familiar names. The ETF's top-10 holdings in order are as follows: Netflix

, RightNow Technologies

, Open Text

, Rackspace

, Tibco Software

, Informatica

, Acme Packet

, Teradata

, Aruba Networks

and Equinix

. SKYY's top-three sector weights are software (32.5%), Internet Software and Services (22.6%) and communications equipment (16.75%). SKYY's index is a modified equal dollar weighted index designed to track the performance of companies actively involved in the cloud computing industry. To be included in the index, a security must be engaged in a business activity supporting or utilizing the cloud computing space, listed on an index-eligible global stock exchange and have a market capitalization of at least $100 million, according to data on First Trust's Web site. First Trust has been among the most prolific issuers of new ETFs this year, having introduced 16 new funds. The firm is the fastest-growing among the top-10 U.S. ETF issuers.