ishares

VANGUARD U.S. REIT ETF $84 (New York symbol VNQ; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative; Market cap: $35.1 billion) provides exposure to a selection of U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs). The fund does that by tracking the MSCI U.S. REIT Index....

The Thai economy is emerging from the slump caused by the political turmoil of 2013-15. During that period, a military coup ousted the country’s prime minister and installed a military-led government.

As a result, economic growth fell sharply as exports and tourism plummeted....

The ETF world is diverse, with a fund for every kind of investment strategy. That includes ETFs for those Canadians who want to invest in companies committed to protecting the environment and helping social causes. Here are two such funds:

ISHARES MSCI KLD 400 SOCIAL ETF $97 (NYSE symbol DSI; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $932.5 million) avoids companies that derive a significant portion of their business from alcohol, tobacco, gambling, civilian firearms, nuclear power, military weapons, adult entertainment, and genetically modified organisms.

The fund invests in large U.S....

ISHARES INDIA 50 ETF $36.07 (Nasdaq symbol INDY; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tracks the Nifty 50 index—the 50 largest, most liquid Indian securities. It began trading in November 2009.

The fund’s top holdings are HDFC Bank, 9.4%; Reliance Industries (conglomerate), 7.8%; Housing Development Finance, 6.7%; ITC (conglomerate), 5.5%; ICICI Bank, 5.0%; Infosys (information technology), 5.0%; Larsen & Toubro (conglomerate), 3.7%; and Tata Consultancy (information technology), 3.3%....

We think conservative investors can hold up to 10% of their portfolios in foreign stocks. One way to do that is by choosing exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an overseas focus.

The best ETFs continue to offer very low management fees and well-diversified, tax-efficient portfolios of high quality stocks....

Four large global ETF providers dominate the global industry, with an estimated 75% market share. Three of them—Blackrock (iShares), Vanguard and State Street Global Advisors (SPDR)—are U.S. based. Deutsche Bank is the fourth. Sheer size allows each provider to offer exceptionally low management fees on many of its products.

The relatively small but fast-growing Canadian ETF market is dominated by Blackrock Canada, with 117 ETFs and $57 billion in assets under management....

ISHARES S&P/TSX 60 INDEX ETF $24 (Toronto symbol XIU; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Conservative Market cap: $10.8 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, 8.7%; TD Bank, 8.0%; Bank of Nova Scotia, 5.9%; Enbridge, 5.3%; CN Railway, 4.8%; Suncor Energy, 4.5%; Bank of Montreal, 3.8%; TransCanada Corp., 3.3%; BCE, 3.3%; Manulife Financial, 3.1%, Canadian Natural Resources, 3.0%; CIBC, 3.0%; Brookfield Asset Management, 2.8% and Canadian Pacific Railway, 1.9%.

The industry breakdown is as follows: Financials (41%), Resources (29%), Industrials (9%), Telecommuncations (6%), Consumer discretionary (5%), Consumer staples (4%), Information technology (2%), Utilities (2%) and others (2%).

Still, this ETF’s assets are highly concentrated in the financial and resources sectors.

The fund began trading in September 1999....

Indonesia’s 250 million citizens make it the world’s fourth-most-populous country and Southeast Asia’s largest economy. The nation’s successful and popular president is focused on further growth and is the first leader to emerge from outside of Indonesia’s military elite.

ISHARES MSCI INDONESIA ETF $26 (New York symbol EIDO; TSI Network ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $470.8 million) provides broad exposure to the main publicly listed companies in Indonesia....

With yearly revenue of $4 trillion, the global agriculture industry offers enormous opportunities for firms ready to satisfy growing food demand. (For more on agriculture, see supplement, page 10.)

VANECK VECTORS AGRICULTURE AGRIBUSINESS ETF $59 (New York symbol MOO; TSINetwork ETF Rating: Aggressive; Market cap: $831.4 million) tracks the MVIS Global Agribusiness Index and provides exposure to companies involved in the business of agriculture....

The Bank of Canada increased interest rates in July 2017 for the first time since 2010. It then raised its key interest rate again in September 2017, from 0.75% to 1.00%. But it appears unlikely that it will raise it again this year.

That’s because the Canadian economy shrank unexpectedly in August, by 0.1%....