etf

We think foreign stocks can safely make up 10% of a conservative investor’s portfolio. One way is through exchange traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus. The best of those ETFs charge you very low management fees yet offer you 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, $44.79, is a buy for aggressive investors. The fund (New York symbol EEM; buy or sell through brokers) is designed to track the MSCI Emerging Markets Index; it gives you access to some of the world’s fastest growing markets.


The ETF’s geographic breakdown is as follows: China, 27.3%; Taiwan, 19.0%; India, 18.8%; South Korea, 10.0%; Brazil, 4.8%; Saudi Arabia, 3.9%; South Africa, 3.2%; Mexico, 1.9%; Indonesia, 1.6%; Thailand, 1.5%; and Malaysia, 1.4%.


Your biggest stock exposure through the fund is Taiwan Semiconductor (computer chips) at 9.9% of assets; Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), 4.4%; Samsung Electronics (South Korea), 2.5%; Alibaba (China: e-commerce), 2.3%; Meituan Dianping (China: group buying/food delivery), 1.5%; Reliance Industries (India: conglomerate), 1.2%; HDFC Bank (India), 1.1%; and PDD Holdings (China: retail), 1.1%.


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

Most precious-metal stocks dropped, along with the market, in March 2020. They then quickly reversed that trend to soar for investors, in part because of gold’s appeal as a “safe harbour” in times of economic uncertainty. In fact, in August 2020, gold jumped to over $2,000 U.S....

iShares Canadian Select Dividend Index ETF pays you a high 3.7% from 30 of Canada’s best stocks while emphasizing payout sustainability and growth.

ISHARES CORE MSCI CANADIAN QUALITY DIVIDEND INDEX ETF $30.08 (Toronto symbol XDIV; Units o/s: 57.8 million; Market cap: $1.7 billion; Dividend yield: 4.5%; www.blackrock.com/ca) aims to invest in Canadian stocks with above-average dividend yields and steady or increasing dividends....

A: The Global X Seasonal Rotation ETF, $31.08, symbol HAC on Toronto (Units outstanding: 7.0 million; Market cap: $217.6 million; www.globalx.ca), aims to tactically spread and move around its holdings between stocks, fixed-income investments, commodities and currencies based on historical seasonal trends.

The managers believe that investment markets follow these seasonal trends and so have seasonal rhythms....

You Can See Our Exchange-Traded Funds Portfolio For November 2024 Here.

ETFs in brief


Exchange-traded funds are set up to mirror the performance of a stock-market index or sub-index....

Prominent investor Warren Buffett once remarked that “Common yardsticks such as dividend yield, the ratio of price to earnings or to book value, and even growth rates have nothing to do with valuation except to the extent they provide clues to the amount and timing of cash flows into and from the business.”


Stock analysis that examines a company’s free cash flow can cut through the unpredictability of how the business chooses to report its earnings....

This month we focus on high-income, leveraged single-stock ETFs; one was launched by Harvest and another, focused on physical gold bullion, was launched by BMO.


HARVEST ELI LILLY ENHANCED HIGH-INCOME SHARES $12.04 (Toronto symbol LLHE) invests in the shares of Eli Lilly & Co....

When we last wrote about South Korea—in late 2022—we pointed out that the country’s stocks had seen a two-year run-up in prices and then a sharp decline. That left many high-quality companies trading at attractive valuations. Since that time the South Korean market has gained 25%, but is still well off its peak....

Fees charged by ETFs have several components:


First are the operating expenses of the fund, such as the portfolio management fee, custody and administration fees, and marketing fees. These fees are all rolled into the Management Expenses Ratio (MER) and are paid directly from the ETF’s assets....