Oct. 30--As of Thursday, Oklahoma is OOK.

The Oklahoma Exchange-Traded Fund, represented by the ticker symbol "OOK," launched Thursday into a 200-point rally in the Dow Industrials fueled by the disclosure of a surge of U.S. economic growth in the third quarter. The shares of all but one of the 29 state companies covered by the fund rose Thursday.

"I don't know how you get a better recipe for a day to launch," said Keith Geary, chairman of OOK Advisors.

Although OOK volume was light -- 20,501 shares traded Thursday -- Geary predicts the fund should top $100 million within a week and could grow beyond $500 million by year's end. Some large financial institutions have signed agreements as recently as Thursday that will provide greater awareness of the fund among brokers and other potential buyers, Geary said.

Each share of OOK represents a basket of stocks from Oklahoma-based companies, weighted so that the largest companies have the greatest representation. Exchange traded funds are built like mutual funds by offering exposure to multiple companies, but trade like individual stocks.

"It's nice to have money stay in the state, but it's even better to have all this outside interest -- money flowing into the state," he said.

Geary filed the paperwork to create the fund 20 months ago. On Wednesday night, knowing the fund would begin trading the next day, Geary said he didn't sleep.

"I'm relieved," he said Thursday as the fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

New index tool Scott Sacknoff, president of SPADE Indexes that created the SPADE Oklahoma Index, said the state's relatively robust economy and the sense of pride among residents should help make the fund a success.

The index seeks to measure the performance of the largest publicly traded companies that are based in or have significant operations in Oklahoma. Reflecting the profile of those 29 companies, the fund will be heavily weighted toward energy. At Sept. 30, the index was about two-thirds energy, 14 percent utilities, 7.5 percent banking, 5 percent coal and smaller amounts of industrials, services, food and consumer goods.

"This fund reflects the values and growth of Oklahoma businesses," said Larry Nichols, chairman and CEO of Devon Energy Corp., one of the largest companies in the fund. "We are pleased that our success and the success of other companies in Oklahoma could be reflected as one of the nation's first state-based exchange-traded funds."

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