ETF Expert

1. Russia has its own brand of capitalism these days. It also has its own ETF, the Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX).

The folks at ETF Guide explain that the success of this fund is largely based on the rise in commodity prices, particularly crude oil. Of course, a fall in commodity prices may not be the only risk. Russia’s banking system may lack the transparency needed for investors to make sound judgments.

Van Eck Global introduced the Market Vectors Russia ETF back in April. Here was my review.

2. Dividend ETFs have been hit harder than most by the subprime crisis. This is largely due to the fact that the financial sector pays some of the highest dividends and, by extension, most of the dividend indexes have a heavy financial weighting.

The brand new First Trust Dow Jones Global Select Dividend 100 Index Fund (FGD) is no exception. More than 30% of the companies in this ETF are financial companies.

That said, history favors high-dividend payers, particularly those with high dividend growth. Tom Lydon of ETF Trends notes that the Global Select Dividend 100 Index Fund (FGD) covers the top 100 dividend payers around the globe. Moreover, no company accounts for greater than 10% of the index.

The demand for dividend-based ETFs has grown in spite of the global credit crunch. Recently, Claymore even introduced a "dividend rotation" fund.