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South Korea has been one of the most impressive performers among emerging market economies over the past 50 years. Rising wages and an aging workforce could slow growth, but the country’s overall outlook is positive. Unification with North Korea could significantly accelerate growth, although that kind of reconciliation is unlikely in the near-to-medium term.


Here is one ETF that provides exposure to the top South Korean stocks.


ISHARES MSCI SOUTH KOREA ETF $60.76 (New York symbol EWY; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $3.4 billion) tracks the performance of the largest publicly listed South Korean companies.


Technology companies account for 41% of its assets, followed by Financial Services (14%), Consumer Cyclical (10%), Industrials (9%) and Basic Materials (8%).


The ETF holds a portfolio of 115 stocks; the top 10 make up 47% of its assets....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $22.97 (Toronto symbol XIU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $8.6 billion) is a low-fee way to buy the top Canadian listed stocks. Specifically, the ETF holds stocks that represent the S&P/TSX 60 Index—the largest, most heavily traded equities on the TSX.


The ETF’s top holdings are Royal Bank, 8.8%; TD Bank, 8.5%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.6%; CN Rail, 5.0%; Suncor Energy, 4.8%; Enbridge, 4.2%; Bank of Montreal, 4.0%; Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, 3.2%; and Canadian Natural Resources, 3.1%.


The industry breakdown is as follows: Financials (39%), Resources (29%), Industrials (11%), Telecommuncations (7%), Consumer discretionary (4%), Consumer staples (4%), Information technology (4%), Utilities (2%) and others (1%).


The S&P/TSX 60 Index mostly consists of high-quality companies....

Investing in the technology industry can be hugely profitable. However, companies face tough competition and the industry’s winners can quickly lose out to rivals with newer innovations. Tech stocks can also be very volatile—and negative news can throw them into steep declines....

A: In May 2018, Bank of Nova Scotia’s asset-management business, Scotia Global Asset Management, announced the launch of its Scotia Strategic ETF Portfolios.

These “smart beta” ETF portfolios include fixed-income, Canadian, U.S. and global equity funds....

October 2018 was a month that investors in risky assets would rather forget. Some of the top-performing ETFs over the preceding months lost considerable value in October. For example, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMMJ) dropped 30%, although it remains up 76% over a year earlier....

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....

LISTEN:

The successful conclusion of NAFTA renegotiations—and the creation of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA—should boost Mexico’s economic prospects....

The runaway ETF winners in the month of September 2018 were marijuana funds ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) and Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMMJ). They gained 23.1% and 20.4%, respectively. The increases for these spectaculative stocks came on top of previous gains....