etf

With interest rates still near historic lows, borrowing money to invest continues to look like an attractive portfolio investing strategy.

Today, you can borrow for as little as 3.5% if you use your home as collateral. Over long periods, the total return on a well-diversified portfolio of high-quality stocks runs to as much as 10%, or around 7.5% after inflation....

ISHARES FTSE/XINHUA CHINA 25 INDEX FUND $40.04 (New York Exchange symbol FXI; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that aims to track the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is made up of the 25 largest and most liquid Chinese stocks. All of the stocks in the index trade on the Hong Kong exchange. Some also trade as American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York exchange. The fund’s top holdings are China Mobile, 10.3%; China Construction Bank, 9.4%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 8.0%; China Life Insurance, 6.8%; CNOOC Ltd., 6.1%; China Unicom Hong Kong, 5.0%; Ping An Insurance Group, 4.4%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 4.1%; PetroChina, 4.0%; and Bank of China, 4.0%. The fund’s holdings give it the following industry breakdown: Financials, 45.6%; Telecommunications, 19.2%; Oil and Gas, 14.2%; Basic Materials, 9.4%; Industrials, 7.9%; Consumer Services, 1.8%; and Utilities, 0.8%. The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.73%. The dividend yield is 2.3%....

SPDR S&P CHINA ETF $68.56 (New York Exchange symbol GXC; buy or sell through brokers), is an exchange-traded fund that aims to track the S&P China BMI Index. This index is made up of all of the publicly traded Chinese stocks that are available to foreign investors. Right now, this ETF holds 137 stocks. The $545.7-million fund’s top holdings are: China Mobile, 8.2%; China Life Insurance, 6.2%; Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, 5.5%; China Construction Bank, 4.7%; CNOOC Ltd., 4.7%; Petro-China, 4.1%; Bank of China, 4.1%; Baidu Inc., 3.1%; China Petroleum & Chemical, 2.6%; and Tencent Holdings Ltd., 2.2%. The fund’s breakdown by industry is as follows: Financials, 31.0%; Oil and Gas, 16.1%; Telecommunication Services, 10.8%; Industrials, 10.6%; Information Technology, 10.5%; Consumer Discretionary, 6.7%; Consumer Staples, 5.5%; Basic Materials, 4.8%; and Utilities, 2.3%....

POWERSHARES QQQ ETF $43.96 (Nasdaq symbol QQQQ; buy or sell through brokers), formerly called Nasdaq 100 Trust Shares, holds the stocks that represent the Nasdaq 100 Index. That index is made up of the 100 largest shares on the Nasdaq exchange based on market cap. The Nasdaq 100 Index contains firms from a number of major industries, including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain financial companies. The fund’s expenses are about 0.20% of its assets. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Google, Cisco Systems, Intel, Amazon.com, Oracle Corp., Gilead Sciences and Teva Pharmaceuticals....

SPDR DOW JONES INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE ETF $100.29 (New York Exchange symbol DIA; buy or sell through brokers) holds the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The fund’s top holdings are IBM, Exxon Mobil, Chevron Corp., 3M, Procter & Gamble, McDonald’s Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar Inc., United Technologies and Boeing Co. The fund’s expenses are about 0.18% of its assets. SPDR Dow Jones ETF is a buy.

SPDR S&P 500 ETF $106.11 (New York symbol SPY; buy or sell through brokers) holds the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, which consists of 500 major U.S. stocks that are chosen based on their market cap, liquidity and industry group. The index’s highest-weighted stocks are Exxon Mobil, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Apple, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Chevron, General Electric, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and AT&T. The fund’s expenses are just 0.10% of its assets. If you want exposure to the S&P 500 Index, SPDR S&P 500 ETF is a buy.

ISHARES DOW JONES CANADA SELECT DIVIDEND INDEX FUND $18.63 (Toronto symbol XDV; buy or sell through a broker) holds 30 of the highest-yielding Canadian stocks. Its selections are based on dividend growth, yield and payout ratio. The weight of any one stock is limited to 10% of assets. The fund’s MER is 0.50%. It yields 4.0%. The fund’s top holdings are CIBC, 7.7%; Bank of Montreal, 6.8%; TD Bank, 5.8%; National Bank, 5.3%; Telus, 5.1%; Manitoba Telecom, 4.7%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 4.6%; Royal Bank, 4.2%; IGM Financial, 4.0%; and TransCanada Corp., 3.5%. The fund holds 60.3% of its assets in financial stocks. Utilities are next, at 23.0%. The top Canadian finance stocks have sound prospects. However, if you invest in this ETF, be sure to adjust the rest of your portfolio so it won’t be overly concentrated in the financial sector....

Chinese stocks have fallen about 13% since the start of this year, even though China’s economy continues to grow rapidly. Lower U.S. and European markets are part of the reason for the drop, but investors also worry that the Chinese government may raise interest rates and tighten bank lending to slow inflation and property speculation. That could weaken the country’s growth. However, the long-term outlook for China, and Chinese stocks, is strong. One of the best ways for investors to tap into that growth is through low-fee exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Here are our two Chinese ETF recommendations. One invests in all of the publicly traded Chinese stocks available to foreign investors. The other holds the 25 largest Chinese stocks....

On July 7, 2010, Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) priced its first public share issue. The bank, which operates nearly 24,000 branches, will sell 25 billion shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for HK$3.20 ($0.41 U.S.), and 22 billion shares on the Shanghai exchange for 2.68 yuan ($0.40 U.S.). Strong investor interest in China, whose economy grew 11.9% in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a year earlier, should help AgBank’s initial public offering (IPO) raise $22.1 billion U.S. That would make it the largest IPO in world stock market history, topping Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, which raised $21.6 billion U.S. in 2006. AgBank is the latest in a series of big world stock market IPOs from Asian and emerging markets this year. The world’s 10 biggest IPOs in 2010 include firms from China, Russia, Poland and India. The U.S. is noticeably absent from the list, and only one western European firm (from Spain) was included....

In the first quarter of 2010, India’s economy grew by 8.6% compared to the same period last year. That’s the world’s second-fastest growth rate. Only China, with an 11.9% expansion, saw stronger growth. India’s gain was largely the result of a 16.3% increase in manufacturing, as the country continued its faster-than-expected recovery from the global economic slowdown. India’s strong economic performance is expected to continue: the World Bank recently projected that the country’s economy could grow at an annual rate of 8% to 9% over the next two years....