high quality stocks

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $33.27 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that’s designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Its top holdings are Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 9.6%; AmBev SA (beer and beverages), 8.8%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 8.7%; Banco Brandesco SA, 7.1%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 5.3%; BRF SA (food), 4.2%; and Cielo SA (payment processing), 3.8%.

The ETF was launched on July 10, 2000. It has a 0.62% expense ratio.

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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. Here’s a look at six international ETFs:...

When you feel the urge to sell a stock that’s been a strong performer, your “itchy trigger finger” could erase bigger gains in the future.

Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF, $54.21, symbol MOO on New York (Units outstanding: 26.1 million; Market cap: $1.4 billion; www.vaneck.com), aims to track the Market Vectors Global Agribusiness Index, after expenses. This index includes shares of agricultural firms from around the world. To be included, a company must be publicly traded, have a market cap over $150 million U.S. and meet certain minimum trading volumes. The index contains five major subsectors: agriculture chemicals and fertilizers, agricultural products, agricultural equipment, livestock operations, and biofuels (including ethanol and biodiesel). The geographic breakdown of stocks in the Market Vectors Global Agribusiness Index is as follows: the U.S. (48.9%), Canada (11.0%), Switzerland (8.1%), Japan (6.4%), Singapore (4.1%), Norway (3.8%), the Netherlands (3.1%), Malaysia (3.0%), China (1.9%), Australia (1.9%) and other countries (7.8%)....

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $33.26 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Its top holdings are Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 10.3%; AmBev SA (beer and beverages), 8.6%; Banco Brandesco SA, 8.0%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 6.3%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 5.6%; BRF SA (food), 4.6%; and Cielo SA (payment processing), 3.4%.

The ETF was launched on July 10, 2000. It has a 0.62% expense ratio.

...

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. Here’s a look at six international ETFs:...

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $33.26 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market. Its top holdings are Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 10.3%; AmBev SA (beer and beverages), 8.6%; Banco Brandesco SA, 8.0%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 6.3%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 5.6%; BRF SA (food), 4.6%; and Cielo SA (payment processing), 3.4%. The ETF was launched on July 10, 2000. It has a 0.62% expense ratio....

ISHARES MSCI BRAZIL INDEX FUND $39.87 (New York symbol EWZ; buy or sell through brokers) is an ETF that is designed to track the Brazilian stock market.

Its top holdings are Cia Itau Unibanco Holding (banking), 9.2%; Petrobras (oil and gas), 8.1%; Banco Brandesco SA, 7.9%; AmBev (beer and beverages), 7.5%; Vale do Rio Doce (mining), 5.8%; BRF SA (food), 4.3%; and Cielo SA (payment processor), 3.3%.

The ETF was launched on July 10, 2000. It has a 0.61% expense ratio.

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The U.S. dollar hit a low below $0.95 Cdn. in October 2011, and has since risen above $1.16 Cdn., a gain of 22.1%. In the same period, the U.S. Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has gained 88.1%, even after allowing for the setback of the past couple of weeks. Together these two factors mean that if you followed our advice and put around a quarter of your portfolio in high-quality U.S. stocks, you probably have substantial capital gains. If so, you may feel tempted to sell some of your U.S. stocks—“harvest” some of your capital gains, as brokers sometimes say. It’s generally a bad idea to sell high-quality stocks simply because their stock prices have gone up. When you do that, you risk selling your best selections when they are just starting to rise. But it’s a particularly bad idea to sell U.S. stocks right now....

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 high quality stocks. Here’s a look at six global ETFs:...