Two ETFs To Play Indonesia’s Appeal

As many investors seek to find the next emerging opportunity, the Asian nation of Indonesia may be the answer to their prayers.

According to Liem Denning of the Wall Street Journal, Indonesia is the next Brazil, which was the best performing BRIC nation over the past five years and is ripe for exponential growth.  A major driver behind Indonesia’s appeal is the fact that it is flush with natural resources.  The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal and palm oil and has an ample supply of crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper and gold. 

3 ETFs Influenced By India’s Inflation

Despite witnessing stellar economic growth over the past few years, rising prices could put a damper on India’s future and its exchange traded funds (ETFs).

In general, the global commodities market has witnessed a slight pull back over; however, commodity prices continue to remain elevated putting strain on the consumer. On the consumer side, this drastic increase in prices has been led by a surge in food prices which has been brought on by pure supply and demand forces. Although India is expected to witness a relatively decent annual rainfall building up short-term supply of food and agriculture-based products, weak storage facilities and infrastructure will likely negate any benefits that the nation could reap from increased production. 

Two New ETFs For European Bond Markets

Despite the economic uncertainty that continues to prevail in Europe, New York-based ETF provider, Van Eck Global, recently filed plans to launch two new ETFs that will enable investors to play the European bond markets.

According to the filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the first fund is expected to be the Market Vectors Sovereign Bond ETF which is expected to be designed to track the performance of local currency-denominated bonds of sovereign issuers located in Europe, excluding Russia.  Furthermore, bonds eligible for inclusion in the Index must be issued by European country governments, sovereigns, quasi-sovereigns or government-backed entities and must be rated “Baa3” or above by Moody’s or “BB-” or above by S&P or Fitch for long-term debt obligations and equivalent ratings for short-term debt obligations.

Four ETFs Impacted By China’s Supply and Demand of Copper

Over the last two years, the price of copper has skyrocketed on the assumption that demand will outpace supply of the industrial metal, however, recent warning signs indicate that copper’s uptrend could come to an end. 

According to Carolyn Cui and Tatyana Shumsky of the Wall Street Journal, the rise in copper prices has primarily been driven by the belief that China has an insatiable appetite for the metal.  This may be true to some extent as that China’s consumption of the metal more than doubled in 2008 and 2009 as the emerging market witnessed exceptional economic growth and urbanization prevailed.  Further price appreciation was supported due to the fact that China’s demand increased while global mine production remained relatively stable growing at nearly 19% between 2000 and 2009 (keeping pace with global consumption). 

Germany ETF May Get Luxury Car Boost

As the US economy continues to show signs of recovery and incomes in developing nations continue to rise, demand for German luxury cars is expected to increase and will likely provide positive price support to the iShares MSCI Germany Index (EWG).

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, BMW AG, Daimler AG (maker of Mercedes Benz) and Volkswagen AG (parent of luxury brand Audi) are all no track to reach record sales in 2011.  In fact, in the first quarter of the year, sales of BMW rose 21 percent from a year earlier, those of Audi were up 18 % year-to-year and Mercedes-Benz witnessed a jump of 13% when compared to the same period last year. 

India Infrastructure ETF Destined To Shine

India’s economy is growing at the second largest pace amongst the world’s major nations and is likely to continue to do so as the nation is abundant with an intelligent and young labor force.  Furthermore, this growth is shinning a ray of light on the nation’s infrastructure sector and boosting the appeal of the EGShares India Infrastructure ETF (INXX).

According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, numerous private equity firms have recognized this appeal and have turned their attention to the emerging market sector.  In fact, the article indicates that there were 48 private equity deals in infrastructure worth an estimated $3 billion last year, with another 38 infrastructure funds currently waiting to invest in India’s infrastructure. 

Two ETFs To Play Colombia’s Appeal

As commodity prices continue to increase and the US dollar remains weak, commodity rich frontier markets, in particularly Colombia, may pose an opportunity to investors. 

One of the primary drivers behind Colombia’s’ appeal is its vast supply of natural resources.  The nation is rich in oil, coal and other minerals, all commodities that are likely to witness elevated demand from both developing and developed nations as the global economy mends and economies grow.  Furthermore, the Colombian government has implemented a series of policies such as the Andean Trade Promotion which is encouraging a more diversified export base other than the United States and Venezuela, its two largest trading partners.  Additionally, Colombia is pursuing free trade agreements with Asian and other South America nations, which are two regions that are expected to witness increased appetites for natural resources, in particularly oil and coal. 

Three ETFs To Play Emerging Market Debt

As developing nations continue to draw investor attention, opportunities in developing market debt may present a viable opportunity.

To not much surprise, many have been turning to developing nations mainly due to their aggregate, or combined, size and expected exponential growth compared to the United States in the near future.   In fact, a recent study indicates that 97% of the world’s population, 75% of its economic production and nearly 67% of stock market capitalization is outside of the United States.

5 ETFs To Watch As China Grows

Despite a series of tightening monetary measures in 2010, China’s economy grew by an astonishing 9.8 percent in the fourth quarter pushing it ahead of Japan as the world’s second largest economy, while fueling concerns that more needs to be done to fight inflation.

According to Aaron Back and Jason Dean at the Wall Street Journal, China’s economy grew at an annual pace of 10.3 percent in 2010, crushing its 9.2 percent growth in the prior year.  Furthermore, China reported a 31 percent increase in exports and a 38 percent increase in imports as the Chinese economy demanded more raw materials, machinery and consumer goods from producers around the world. 

Four ETFs To Play Canada’s Natural Resources

As global demand for natural resources remains insatiable, Canada’s vast supply of these natural resources makes it highly appealing to investors.

The democratically governed nation, just north of our border, boasts the world’s second largest oil reserve, trailing none other than Saudi Arabia, has a vast supply of natural gas and generates a decent amount of nuclear energy, enabling the nation to be a net exporter of energy.  Furthermore, Canada is the world’s largest producer of zinc and uranium, as well as a positive producer of gold, nickel, aluminum and lead, all commodities that fast-growing nations in Asia and Latin America are thirsty for.    In fact, according to a recent Barron’s article, Export Development Canada, a government agency that provides credit to Canadian exporters, forecasts 57% growth in Canadian exports to Asian-Pacific countries and lesser-but-strong growth to other emerging markets in 2011.