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On Wall Street: Stretching the imagination | FT

ETFs are multiplying at a dizzying rate. The funds are designed as low cost, passively managed index trackers which, unlike mutual funds, are themselves actively traded on exchanges, theoretically giving investors an easy "œin" and "œout".

By the end of February this year, $315bn was invested in US-listed ETFs, according to the Investment Company Institute. While the sector is still just a tiddler compared with the $9,200bn invested in mutual funds, the amount in ETFs has risen 41 per cent in the last year.

The sector is even big enough to have mutual funds sniffing around. The PathMaster Domestic Equity Fund is mostly invested in ETFs as a handy way of replicating market segments by size and style.

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