Useful Tool For Investors

The Amex reports each of the indexes every 15 seconds. It's the only place where total bond, equity and short-term liquidity index movements are reported in real time, he adds.

"It's a very useful way to look at how these big markets move," Stockton said.

And that's a gift investors can take advantage of whether they decide to buy the Claymore ETFs or not.

The firm has put up a Web site where anyone can freely stick in a date going back to 1979 and get a host of information on the entire stock, bond and money market in the U.S. Or, they can search by any of those submarkets.

For example, setting the site's search to run from Dec. 31, 1979 through Jan. 31, 2008, it shows that the entire index produced average annual returns of 10%. Just the equities portion generated 12.51%, and bonds gained 9.13%. At the same time, money markets and other liquid investments would've made 6.72%.

Returns are just some of the numbers provided. During that same time frame, stocks in the index displayed standard deviation (a measure of volatility) of 15.10%. That compared to 5.90% for bonds and 1.11% for money market instruments.

And that's just some of the goodies Schmalenberger has made available. It's a good bet that paying a visit to the site will be well worth many investors' time. The site's home page can be found at: http://cpmkts.com/

But let's be clear about one thing: This is in no way a recommendation of Claymore's ETFs. But it is a salute to a really unique and pioneering spirit in the world of indexing. It's going to be fun to watch how these ETFs advance the whole notion of total market investing.

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