A Look Ahead: Next Week's ETFs to Watch (DHS, IAI)

Thanks to a surprisingly strong July jobs report, stocks surged to finish the week, giving investors some optimism heading into the second week of August. As has been noted, August is not the best month to be long stocks, but it is also worth noting there is a bit of rally going on and it is two months old. Still, the U.S. employment situation is not close to where it needs to be for the world's largest economy to be deemed healthy. Combine that with the fact that the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank disappointed investors by not announcing more monetary easing programs this week and it is downright impressive U.S. equities closed the week in upbeat fashion. Without a crystal ball, no one knows for sure where stocks will be a week from today, but it is a certainty that some these ETFs will be in play next week. iShares Dow Jones U.S. Broker-Dealers Index Fund IAI Plenty of attention was paid to the impact the Knight Capital Group KGC imbroglio had on ETFs. Not much attention was paid to the ETFs that actually hold shares of the embattled market maker. IAI holds a small allocation (0.73 percent) to Knight, but this ETF is exclusively devoted to capital markets firms. Will a buyer for Knight from IAI's lineup or will the ETF be hampered by lingering issues surrounding the company? WisdomTree Equity Income Fund DHS The WisdomTree Equity Income Fund will not wow anyone with its volume and the fund was up just half a percent this week, but there is more to the story. DHS features a distribution yield of 3.8 percent and is loaded with the types of conservative stocks investors are embracing in a rocky market environment. In the past month, DHS has outperformed the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF VIG and the iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index Fund DVY. PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio SPLV Here is an anecdote that is a sign of the times: In April, just a few weeks shy of its first birthday, the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio had $1.6 billion in assets under management. As of the close of trading Friday, that number had swelled above $2.3 billion, according to PowerShares data. Indeed, low volatility ETFs are all the rage these days. iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund EPHE Despite slowing growth throughout the emerging world, there has been plenty of chatter that emerging markets ETFs are starting to show signs of life. If that is indeed true, investors would be best served sticking with a fund that has been a relative strength leader, not trying to bottom fish among an array of oversold ETFs. EPHE has been a leader, implying that when emerging markets are once again embraced, this ETF will be an upside leader. A couple of strong days to start next week could send the lone Philippines ETF to a new 52-week high. For more on ETFs, click here.