ETF Database » MES

UAE, Qatar Rejected, Won’t Be Joining Emerging Markets ETFs (EEM, VWO)

Michael Johnston — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:00:44 +0000

MSCI, the firm responsible for developing and maintaining some of the most widely-followed indexes in the world, announced on Wednesday that Qatar and the United Arab Emirates would remain classified under frontier status until at least the middle of 2012, ending speculation over whether the two Middle East economies would be upgraded to emerging status. The decision ended weeks of speculation that had spurred increased activity as market participants sought to anticipate the ramifications of an upgrade. MSCI cited the “stringent foreign ownership limits, including on large companies” imposed by Qatar as a remaining hurdle that must be cleared before an upgrade is possible. “Any change to the status of the MSCI Qatar Index is conditional upon a meaningful increase of foreign ownership limit levels applied to Qatari companies resulting in increased foreign room,” said MSCI in a press release. The UAE was held back due to “significant concerns over [...]

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Middle East ETFs Under Pressure As Protests Intensify

Michael Johnston — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:00:31 +0000

Investors have become familiar with the term “contagion” in recent years, but most are accustomed to hearing the phenomenon discussed in relation to sovereign debt defaults in Europe or across U.S. municipalities. But in recent days the Middle East has seen a wave of revolutionary protests and rallies spread across the region, as what began as calls for democratic overhauls in Cairo has quickly spread to a handful of other countries. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the President’s Day holiday, with investors focusing on overseas developments anyways. Yemen’s president shot down calls for his resignation that have intensified during ten days of demonstrations throughout the country. “Why do they want to return to chaos?” said Ali Abdullah Saleh, who also offered to sit down to discussions with protestors inspired by movements that forced out leaders in Egypt and Tunisia [see also Examining International Dividend ETFs]. In Bahrain, an [...]

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Middle East ETFs In Focus As BlackBerry Showdown Looms

Michael Johnston — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 16:34:52 +0000

For businessmen and women who regularly travel to the Middle East, last week saw the unveiling of a nightmare: a BlackBerry blackout across much of the region starting later this year. The United Arab Emirates announced recently that it will begin banning users of BlackBerry mobile phones from using email, instant messaging, and web browsing services beginning in October, escalating the long running dispute with Research In Motion (RIMM), the manufacturer of the devices. Saudi Arabia has announced that it will join the UAE in its crackdown on BlackBerry devices. The disagreement centers around the encryption technology used by BlackBerry devices that makes them difficult to monitor and the fact that certain data is stored offshore. Because BlackBerry phones access the internet and email through RIM’s own network, they are more secure than other smartphones. But some governments worry that the set-up limits their ability to monitor the communications of [...]

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ETFs To Invest In The World’s Fastest Growing Economy (No, Not China)

Jared Cummans — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:00:11 +0000

On the western coast of the Persian Gulf, one tiny country has earned a slew of rather unique distinctions that would surprise most U.S. investors. Qatar–which on a map looks like a tiny thumb sticking into the Persian Gulf–is among the fastest growing economies in the world. Though tiny in terms of population, the country’s economic power is soaring. Qatar’s government is supported through revenues derived from massive deposits of crude oil and natural gas, allowing citizens to not pay any income taxes. According to the CIA factbook, Qatar has the second highest GDP per capita in the world, behind only Lichtenstein. That is largely a function of the massive energy industry; oil and gas, make up roughly half of the country’s GDP, 85% of their exports, and 70% of total government revenue. By some estimates, Qatar’s economy is set to grow at close to 15% this year, blowing away [...]

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Middle East ETFs Head-To-Head: GULF vs. MES

Eric Dutram — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:38:02 +0000

After the Dubai debt crisis late last year, many investors feared that the Gulf boom was quickly coming to an end. But obituaries written for the Gulf economy turned out to be premature, as Gulf States such as the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain have bounced back from that scare to post solid returns in 2010. Although Dubai continues to struggle as it flushes out the excesses of its property boom, neighbor Abu Dhabi is expected to grow its GDP by 3.8% this year, while Qatar is expected to have a world best 19.2% GDP growth in 2010. These forecasts have been boosted by increased oil prices, which have more than doubled from their lows last April. The soaring price of oil has helped to fuel the economies of the Gulf region while Qatar looks to benefit from expanded production of its vast natural gas reserves which could stimulate the region [...]

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This Week in ETFs: April 16th Edition

Seth Dowling — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:03:36 +0000

A number of winning streaks came to a halt on Friday, as a generally solid start to earnings season was overshadowed by reports of fraudulent behavior at Goldman Sachs. Financial ETFs plummeted on Friday as anxiety over the regulatory backlash sent the sector sharply lower. Markets will look to another wave or earnings reports next week, as investors continue to gauge the fallout at Goldman and determine the long-term ramifications. Below, we present our picks for the best ETF articles from around the Web over the last week: Greenwich Associates Study Shows Huge ETF Upside at IndexUniverse Could ETFs double in size over the next two years? Matt Hougan thinks such a growth rate might not be all that far-fetched. After analyzing a recent research report from Greenwich Associates, an institutional financial services consulting and research firm, Hougan notes that the usage rate of ETFs among institutions is surprisingly low. The report, which [...]

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Inside The Five Most Expensive ETFs

Michael Johnston — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:49:28 +0000

The rise of the ETF industry is often attributed (in large part at least) to a shift in investor preference from pricey active management to low-cost indexing strategies. ETFs burst on to the investment scene by offering fees equivalent to only a fraction of those charged by traditional actively-managed mutual funds, and have continued to attract assets as investors frustrated with the inability of active management to consistently generate alpha seek out more cost-efficient alternatives. But not all ETFs offer bargain basement expense ratios. As the product offerings have become increasingly specialized and targeted in recent years, average fees have been on the rise. This trend isn’t necessarily attributable to issuer greed (the low end of the expense ratio range has expanded as well), but rather to increasing complexity and granularity of exposure available through ETFs. Replicating the S&P 500 is a relatively simple task, but tracking the performance of [...]

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Coming Soon: Norway, UAE, and Pakistan ETFs

Eric Dutram — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:17:25 +0000

Total ETF assets grew by more than $240 billion in 2009, as funds continued to flow from traditional actively-managed mutual funds and issuers introduced more than 100 new products. Despite some suggestions that the a saturation point is nearing (or has perhaps even been passed), the ETF industry is poised to continue its rapid expansion in 2010, and is on pace to surpass last year’s new product total. Many of the new funds launched this year have been instant hits, and the pipeline is full of exciting new products (see the Seven Most Anticipated New ETFs of 2010). In a new weekly feature on ETF Database, we take a look at some of the more interesting products currently awaiting approval and launch. First up are three international ETFs offering exposure to hard-to-reach regions of the world, including a frontier, emerging, and developed market. Global X, the developer of several sector-specific [...]

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Middle East ETFs Make A Comeback

Michael Johnston — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:48:18 +0000

When U.S. investors returned from a Thanksgiving break last month, they were greeted by chaos in Dubai, as the government moved to restructure Dubai World, its corporate flagship, and temporarily halt debt payments to certain creditors. The announcement threw up red flags around the world, with the most bearish of investors speculating that Dubai would be the first domino to fall, setting off a wave of crises in debt-laden emerging markets. Hardest hit were the stock markets in the UAE and the surrounding region, which plummeted as fear trumped reason and investors punished stocks and bonds alike as they raced to digest information and assess the potential damage. In the weeks since the first announcement of a restructuring, the dust has settled and movements by Gulf states governments has put the minds of some investors at ease. Initially, outrage over Dubai’s assumption that its oil-rich neighbors would step in to [...]

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This Week In ETFs: December 4th Edition

Andy H — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:50:57 +0000

The beginning of December brought more good news for the ETF industry, as cash continued to flow in and innovative new products continued to gain traction with investors. It was an active week on Wall Street as well, with a pleasant surprise from the jobs front wrapping up a week that saw continued rises in gold prices and easing anxiety over Dubai’s “crisis.” Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web: Kevin Rich’s Second Act at Index Universe: “Kevin Rich, as much as anyone, is responsible for the existence of commodity-based exchange-traded funds,” writes Matt Hougan. Last week, a new filing hit detailing an ETF that will be subadvised by Rich Investment Solutions, a new venture from the commodity ETF pioneer. The new fund to which Rich has been tied is the U.S. Equity Reserve Convertible Index Fund, which [...]

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ETF Database » MES

UAE, Qatar Rejected, Won’t Be Joining Emerging Markets ETFs (EEM, VWO)

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Middle East ETFs Under Pressure As Protests Intensify

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Middle East ETFs In Focus As BlackBerry Showdown Looms

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ETFs To Invest In The World’s Fastest Growing Economy (No, Not China)

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Middle East ETFs Head-To-Head: GULF vs. MES

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This Week in ETFs: April 16th Edition

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Inside The Five Most Expensive ETFs

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Coming Soon: Norway, UAE, and Pakistan ETFs

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