Country-specific

One of the largest middle east economies is not yet represented by the ETF space, but Van Eck Global is about to change that. Van Eck has filed an application with the SEC to market two country specific ETFs based on Saudi Arabia. The two ETFs are named the Market Vectors Saudi Arabia ETF and [...]

iShares has launched eight country-specific sovereign debt ETFs on the London Stock Exchange, the first ETFs of their kind. The treasury bond ETFs include the countries of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Finland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The ETFs will be invested in government issued debt. For original article, click here.

According to a Marketwatch news release, the Bank of Japan began actively buying exchange-traded funds to support the Tokyo equity market on Monday, setting a new single day record, totaling approximately $500 million dollars (nearly 40 billion yen). Since December, 2010 the Bank of Japan has invested nearly $1 trillion yen in ETFs, with plans to invest [...]

With the economy still showing concern in the U.S. and job rates still high, many investors are looking at equity investments outside the US. One of the easiest ways of investing internationally is with Exchange-Traded Funds or ETFs. Of the roughly 1,500 ETFs available to trade, there are 7 large ones that focus on international markets.

It seems that there are legitimate studies that show that a countries loss in a major sports competition like the World Cup can adversely affect that countries stock markets the next day says an article in MarketWatch.

Van Eck announced that it has reduced the expense ratio  on its Market Vectors Indonesia ETF (IDX) by 5%. The expense ratio has been reduced from 0.60% to 0.57%, undercutting its competitor by 2 basis points. For original article, click here.

Nigeria’s stock exchange listed its first ETF in December, offering a gold backed fund. The NewGold ETF was created by Absa Bank Limited of South Africa. New ETFs for the Nigerian market may be offered as soon as January. For original article, click here.

Global X Funds relaunched a fund previously named the Global X China Technology ETF (CHIB) on the Nasdaq today, as the Global X NASDAQ China Technology ETF (QQQC). The ETF tracks the technology sector in China, and its three largest holdings currently are ASM Pacific Techno, Lenova Group, and Baidu. For original article, click here.

India, the world’s largest consumer of gold, saw gold ETF assets nearly triple, from November 2010 to November 2011. There are currently 12 gold ETFs in India, with the first gold ETF launched in 2007. For original article, click here.

Assets in U.S. listed ETFs have grown at record levels when looking at 2011 through the first half of the year. By the end of June, assets under management in American exchange-traded funds reached $1.098 trillion, which is a 39% increase from the $788 billion level just one year ago. According to the National Stock [...]