etf

For more than two decades, Vietnam has been one of the best-performing emerging-market economies. Business-oriented government policies, booming exports, and an expanding middle class increasingly contribute to that success story.


Here is an ETF that provides exposure to the top Vietnamese publicly listed companies.


VANECK VECTORS VIETNAM ETF $15.11 (New York symbol VNM; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $326.1 million) holds Vietnamese companies and foreign firms that get a significant share of their revenue from the Southeast Asian nation.


Real Estate accounts for 27% of the fund’s assets, followed by Consumer Defensive (17%), Financial Services (16%), Consumer Cyclical (10%), Industrials (8%) and Technology (7%).


The ETF holds a portfolio of 26 stocks; the top 10 make up a very high 61% of its assets....

Major cities such as Sao Paulo and Cape Town have come close to running out of water in recent years. This again highlights the urgent need for city planners and governments to consider the implications of population growth, urbanization and climate change on the demand and supply of fresh water.


Meanwhile, here are three ETFs that aim to benefit from the opportunities presented by companies providing products and services to the water industry (see the supplement on page 120 for more information).


INVESCO WATER RESOURCES ETF $29.64 (Nasdaq symbol PHO; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $809.0 million) invests in companies listed on U.S....

Generally, robo-advisors offer a set number of investment portfolios largely composed of ETFs. They then use a client’s investment profile—factoring in their needs and risk tolerance—to determine which of those portfolios is best suited to the individual investor.


Robo-advisors claim that their exclusive algorithms take the emotion out of investing and lead to better returns for a lower cost than traditional financial advisors.


Typically, robo-advisors aim to build what they see as diversified portfolios covering all the main asset categories....

The growing use of technology in financial services has produced a high-growth industry—fintech. The companies involved provide a wide range of services, including digital payment systems, data analytics, process automation and investment management.


Here are two ETFs that aim to benefit from fintech....

A: The First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund ETF, $124.03, symbol FDN on New York, aims to track the Dow Jones Internet Composite Index.

For a stock to be considered for a spot in the index, the company must generate at least 50% of its annual sales/revenues from the Internet....

ISHARES INDIA 50 ETF $33.61 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) tracks the Nifty 50 index—the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities. It began trading in November 2009.


The fund’s top holdings are Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 8.9%; HDFC Bank, 7.7%; Housing Development Finance, 6.9%; Infosys (information technology), 6.0%; ITC (conglomerate), 5.7%; ICICI Bank, 5.4%; Tata Consultancy (information technology), 4.8%; and Kotak Mahindra Bank, 3.6%....

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $56.02 (New York symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan Index.


The fund’s top holdings include Toyota, 4.0%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.2%; Sony Corp., 2.1%; Softbank, 2.0%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 1.6%; Keyence Corp....

We think foreign stocks can safely make up 10% of a conservative investor’s portfolio. One way is through the selection of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus.


The best of those ETFs continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high-quality stocks.


Here’s a look at four international ETFs we see as suitable for new buying and two others we feel you should continue to hold.


ISHARES MSCI EMERGING MARKETS ETF $41.63 (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) is designed to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index.


The fund’s geographic breakdown is as follows: China, 30.7%; South Korea, 14.0%; Taiwan, 11.6%; India, 8.6%; Brazil, 7.8%; South Africa, 6.2%; Russia, 3.8%; Mexico, 2.9%; Malaysia, 2.4%; Thailand, 2.4%; Indonesia, 2.1%; and Poland, 1.2%.


Its top stocks are Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.5%; Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips), 3.8%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 3.8%; Alibaba Group (China: e-commerce), 3.5%; Naspers (South Africa: media and Internet), 1.8%; China Construction Bank, 1.6%; China Mobile, 1.2%; Baidu (China: Internet), 1.1%; Ping An Insurance Group (China), 1.1%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 1.0%; Vale SA (Brazil: mining), 1.0%; and Reliance Industries (India: conglomerate), 0.9%.


iShares launched the ETF on April 7, 2003....

Are you wondering how to start investing in ETFs? Here are some tips on how to find the best performing ETFs—and how to stay out of the worst ones

A: The ALPS Sector Dividend Dogs ETF, $43.27, symbol SDOG on New York (Units outstanding: 49.3 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; www.alpssectordividenddogs.com), is an ETF that applies the “Dogs of the Dow” theory on a sector-by-sector basis using the stocks in the S&P 500....