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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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ETFs To Round Out Your International Exposure

Michael Johnston — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:00:39 +0000

A growing number of financial advisors are using exchange-traded funds to achieve international equity exposure for their clients, embracing funds that offer access to both developed and international market beyond the U.S. This should hardly be surprising; the exchange-traded structure delivers an efficient way to tap into an asset class that should be at the core of most long-term, buy-and-hold portfolios–especially in an environment that sees the U.S. market struggling mightily to gain traction. Those looking to keep the portfolio construction process simple tend to gravitate towards broad-based ETFs that offer exposure to a number of different economies. Some of the most popular international stock ETFs are those linked to the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and MSCI EAFE Index, two benchmarks that offer deep, balanced exposure to developing and advanced economies outside the U.S., respectively. A combination of the Vanguard MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (VWO) and Europe Pacific ETF (VEA) [...]

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Emerging Markets ETFs: Five Factors To Consider

Michael Johnston — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:55:25 +0000

A quick look at the headlines on any given day is generally enough to explain why investors have been shifting greater percentages of their long-term portfolios towards emerging markets in recent years. The U.S. is grappling with elevated unemployment, and faces a regulatory gridlock that is creating undesirable tax uncertainty. Europe has been unable to address a spreading debt crisis that is now threatening the very survival of the currency and seems likely to eventually cause billions in sovereign defaults. Japan, though showing some signs of life, is still mired in a decades long slump that has only been exacerbated by natural disasters. While advanced economies are facing some stiff headwinds, emerging markets continue to expand their presence on the global economic stage and ride demographic tailwinds to a red hot rate of GDP growth. The Chinas and Indias of the world certainly have their fair share of issues; inflation [...]

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ETFs For The Forgotten Asset Classes

Michael Johnston — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:00:58 +0000

As ETFs have become increasingly popular among more active traders in recent years, it may be easy to forget that the vehicle was originally designed with the long-term buy-and-holder in mind. For those who take stock in the numerous academic studies indicating that active management generally destroys value over the long haul, cost efficient vehicles that own the market have obvious appeal over pricey funds that attempt to beat it. While ETFs are now components of sophisticated and short-term trading strategies, they remain as critical portfolio building blocks of retirement portfolios and other longer-term investment objectives [see also ETF Alternatives To The World’s Largest Mutual Funds]. The immediate diversification and broad scope of many of the ETFs ideal for construction of long-term, buy-and-hold portfolios has greatly simplified the asset allocation process; a portfolio offering exposure to various asset classes and thousands of individual securities can now be constructed with only [...]

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Emerging Market ETFs: Seven Factors Every Investor Should Consider

Eric Dutram — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:30:53 +0000

No matter where investors look in the developed world, the picture isn’t pretty. In the U.S. unemployment remains intolerably high, and uncertainty over the latest round of QE will continue to hang over stock markets. In Europe efforts to control surging deficits have been met with protests and public outrage, complicating the process of reeling in government spending through austerity and establishing a platform for sustainable economic growth. And in Japan, the central bank has taken steps to weaken the currency in order to keep the country’s important exporters competitive on the global stage. However, the country’s debt levels now approach 200% of GDP–by far one of the highest levels in the developed world–raising all sorts of red flags around a market that has been stick in economic quicksand for the better part of two decades. While a few advanced markets have managed to avoid this malaise–namely those with significant [...]

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Why Frontier Market ETFs Are Not As Risky As You Might Think

Eric Dutram — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 16:57:33 +0000

As investor confidence in developed markets has waned in recent months many have taken their dollars abroad in an attempt to buy into high growth emerging markets overseas. While a good chunk of this cash has piled into the BRIC countries and other large emerging markets such as Indonesia, some have taken a different route and have put the frontier market ETFs under the microscope. However, investors who think that these funds are at the top of the risk spectrum for international equities may be extremely disappointed if they take more than a cursory glance at the funds’ top country allocations. By popular definition, frontier markets are known as “pre-emerging markets” and may face any or all of the following risks; political instability, poor liquidity, inadequate regulation, substandard financial reporting and large currency fluctuations. In addition, many markets are overly dependent on volatile commodities. While this can create opportunities for [...]

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Closer Look At Frontier Market ETFs

Eric Dutram — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:53:25 +0000

As exchange-traded funds have grown in popularity, ETF issuers have gradually ventured into more exotic and unconventional markets in order to differentiate new products from those already on the market. Many firms have set out to offer greater levels of exposure to hard-to-reach developing economies; there are now a number of emerging markets ETFs that go beyond the BRIC, such as those focusing on Mexico or Indonesia. There are also a number of ETFs offering exposure to the world’s least developed economies, those that fall short of even “emerging” status. These markets–known as frontier markets–often come with considerable risk, but can offer attractive return potential as well. According to MSCI, 26 countries are currently classified under “frontier” status. These economies come from all corners of the globe, including several countries from Latin America, central Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Some of the better known frontier markets include Argentina, [...]

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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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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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Van Eck Launches Egypt ETF (EGPT)

Michael Johnston — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:51:29 +0000

Van Eck, the ETF issuer behind international ETFs targeting several emerging and frontier markets, announced today the launch of the Egypt Index ETF (EGPT). The new fund is designed to track the performance of the Market Vectors Egypt Index, a benchmark measuring the performance of publicly traded companies that are domiciled and primarily listed on an exchange in Egypt or that generate at least 50% of their revenues in Egypt. EGPT joins existing Van Eck funds focusing on Vietnam, Indonesia, Poland, and Russia, among others. Egypt 101 With about 80 million people, Egypt is the most populous country in the Arab world and the 16th largest overall. Its per capita GDP is below the global average, trailing behind other emerging markets such as Brazil, South Africa, China, but ahead of India. If it were a U.S. state, Egypt would rank 23rd in terms of nominal GDP. The index underlying EGPT [...]

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ETF Database » PMNA

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

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ETFs To Round Out Your International Exposure

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Emerging Markets ETFs: Five Factors To Consider

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ETFs For The Forgotten Asset Classes

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Emerging Market ETFs: Seven Factors Every Investor Should Consider

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Why Frontier Market ETFs Are Not As Risky As You Might Think

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Closer Look At Frontier Market ETFs

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Middle East ETFs In Focus As BlackBerry Showdown Looms

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This Week in ETFs: April 16th Edition

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Van Eck Launches Egypt ETF (EGPT)

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