Month after month the list of exchange-traded funds continues to grow. Each narrow sub-category of investment classification is a candidate for its own tradable security. To qualify for a risk-adjusted return ranking with TheStreet Ratings, new exchange-traded funds or notes must trade for a 12 full months. 31 new exchange-traded funds that began trading in June completed their first full calendar month of trading in July.
Emerging Global Advisors started 8 new exchange-traded funds called GEMS. The Global Emerging Market Sectors funds cover pure-plays on individual sectors. These new securities began trading on Jun. 23, 2011.
One key difference between these and other emerging markets funds is that Emerging Global Advisors states that Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan do not meet the International Monetary Fund criteria for emerging markets. Therefore stocks from these countries have been excluded from their funds.
8. EGShares Basic Materials GEMS ETF (LGEM_) seeks to achieve its investment objective of total return by investing at least 80% of its net assets in basic materials companies included in the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Basic Materials Titans Index. Top U.S. traded holdings include Vale SA (VALE_) and AngloGold Ashanti (AU_). In July, the fund gained 0.9%.