etf

An ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) is an investment fund that holds a collection of underlying assets, such as stocks or bonds, in a single pooled vehicle. ETFs allow investors to purchase a variety of different securities at once, providing greater diversification compared to owning individual assets. They are traded on stock exchanges like regular stocks, allowing for intraday trading at market prices. ETFs typically have lower fees than mutual funds and often passively track an index or sector, making them a popular choice for investors seeking a cost-effective way to invest in a diversified portfolio.

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iShares Core S&P 500 Hedged ETF aims to cut currency risk by hedging against movements of the U.S. dollar vs. the Canadian dollar. Our view.
We think conservative investors could hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is to buy carefully chosen exchange traded funds (ETFs) that have an overseas focus. The best ETFs offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of highquality stocks....

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $12.34
(New York Exchange 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, 5.8%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.9%; Honda Motor, 1.9%; Softbank Corp., 1.8%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 1.8%; Mizuho Financial Group, 1.4%; KDDI Corp. (telecom), 1.4%; Takeda Pharmaceutical, 1.3%; Japan Tobacco, 1.3%; and Sony Corp., 1.2%.

Japan’s economy shrank 1.6% in the second quarter of 2015, mostly on lower consumer spending. The government raised the country’s sales tax to 8% from 5% on April 1, 2014, to raise funds to pay down debt. However, its ongoing stimulus package has only partly offset the resulting fall in consumer spending.

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ISHARES INDIA 50 ETF $27.86 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that invests in the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities.

The fund’s top holdings are Infosys (information technology), 7.9%; Housing Development Finance, 7.0%; ITC Ltd. (conglomerate), 6.6%; ICICI Bank, 5.7%; Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 5.5%; HDFC Bank, 4.9%; Tata Consultancy Services (information technology), 4.5%; Larsen & Toubro (conglomerate), 4.1%; Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, 3.3%; and Tata Motors, 2.6%. The ETF has a 0.93% expense ratio.

The iShares India 50 ETF rose as high as $30 early this year in the wake of Narendra Modi’s May 2014 election as prime minister. However, it has since moved down to today’s price along with the slowing global economy. Modi has also faced difficulties getting reforms through the upper house of parliament, where he doesn’t hold a majority, These reforms include a bill to make it easier for the government to expropriate land for transportation, industrial and urbanization projects; a goods and services tax; more flexible labour laws; and the sale of state-owned assets.

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ISHARES CDN REIT SECTOR INDEX FUND $15.10 (Toronto symbol XRE; buy or sell through brokers; ca.ishares.com) holds the 15 Canadian real estate investment trusts in the S&P/TSX Capped REIT Index.

iShares CDN REIT’s expenses are 0.60% of its assets. The fund yields 5.5%.

The ETF’s largest holding is RioCan REIT at 20.1%, followed by H&R REIT (14.4%), Smart REIT (8.5%), Canadian Apartment Properties REIT (7.9%), Canadian REIT (7.7%), Allied Properties REIT (6.7%), Cominar REIT (6.1%), Dream Office REIT (5.6%), Boardwalk REIT (5.1%), Artis REIT (4.6%), Granite REIT (4.4%), Crombie REIT (2.5%), Dream Global REIT (2.4%), Pure Industrial REIT (2.1%) and Northern Property REIT (1.5%).

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VANGUARD FTSE EMERGING MARKETS ETF $35.74 (New York symbol VWO; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Emerging Index, which is made up of common stocks of companies in developing countries. The fund’s MER is just 0.15%.

The Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF’s top holdings include Taiwan Semiconductor (Taiwan: computer chips), Tencent Holdings (China: Internet), China Mobile, China Construction Bank, Naspers Ltd. (South Africa: media), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Taiwan: electronics), Infosys (India: information technology) and Housing Development Finance (India: banking).

The $49.7-billion fund’s breakdown by country is as follows: China, 27.2%; Taiwan, 14.4%; India, 13.3%; South Africa, 9.4%; Brazil, 7.2%; Mexico, 5.5%; Russia, 4.5%; Malaysia, 4.0%; Thailand, 2.7%; Indonesia, 2.2%; Philippines, 1.9%; Poland, 1.8%; Turkey, 1.6%; and others, 4.3%.

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VANGUARD GROWTH ETF $110.65 (New York symbol VUG; buy or sell through brokers) aims to track the Center for Research in Security Prices (CRSP) U.S. Large Cap Growth Index, a broadly diversified index that mainly consists of big U.S. companies. The fund’s MER is just 0.09%.

The $48.1-billion Vanguard Growth ETF’s top holdings are Apple, Alphabet, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Visa, Home Depot, Comcast, Amazon.com, Gilead Sciences and Walt Disney Co. The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Technology, 23.9%; Consumer Services, 22.2%; Health Care, 13.7%; Financials, 12.5%; Industrials, 11.9%; Consumer Goods, 10.1%; Oil and Gas, 4.0%; Materials, 1.3%; and Telecom Services, 0.3%.

Vanguard Growth ETF is a buy.

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Vanguard EFT
We recommend that investors diversify up to 30% of their portfolios into U.S. stocks and as much as 10% into international securities. One attractive way for safety-conscious investors to do this is with exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Today we look at several ETFs from a U.S. firm that offer a low-fee way to achieve this diversification. We profile two Vanguard ETFs that track a U.S. large-cap index and an emerging market index.

Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group is one of the world’s largest investment management companies. In all, it administers almost $3 trillion U.S. in 170 mutual funds.

Vanguard, which went into business in 1975, offers low-fee index mutual funds. Generally speaking, Canadians can’t buy units of mutual funds that are registered in the U.S., because they aren’t registered with provincial securities commissions. For that matter, some Canadian funds aren’t available in all provinces.

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The more complicated features there are in an exchange-traded fund (ETF), the more the managers can charge in fees and the more hidden risks you face when investing in ETFs.
Q: Pat: Can you suggest some U.S. ETFs that are set up to move in the opposite direction of particular stock indexes, rather than in the same direction? Regards. A: U.S.-based ProShares offers a range of exchange traded funds for U.S. stock indexes. The company offers three types of ETFs: 1) ProShares Short ETFs are designed to move in the opposite direction of the underlying index. For example, ProShares Short S&P500, $20.77, symbol SH on New York, aims to move in the opposite direction of the daily performance of the S&P 500 Index. This ETF has a 0.90% MER....