ETF Talk: Looking Beyond the Latest Market Plunge
Monday’s 777-point drop in the Dow Jones industrial average followed by yesterday’s 485-point rebound shows that the market is offering no clear direction. With media attention focused on the fallout from the U.S. House of Representatives failing to pass a $700 billion financial system bailout plan, it would be easy to overlook a prominent provider of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) targeting the emerging markets.
Right now is not the time to be taking the plunge in emerging markets, but it is wise to look ahead for ways to invest your money when the markets make a turn upward. Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC, a major provider of ETFs, confirmed that it intends to roll out an emerging markets infrastructure fund this month on the NYSE.
The PowerShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure Portfolio (PXR) will offer a way to capture the growth wave of global companies that are responsible for the construction and development of emerging market infrastructure, said Bruce Bond, president and CEO of Invesco PowerShares.
PXR’s performance will be based on an index that is designed to measure the overall performance of securities issued by companies tapping opportunities in emerging-markets infrastructure. The S-Network Emerging Infrastructure Builders Index features industries that include construction and engineering, construction machinery, construction materials, diversified metals and mining, heavy electrical equipment, industrial machinery and steel.
The index’s top dozen holdings and their weightings, as of Sept. 22, are shown in the table below.
| Country | Group | Name | Weight (%) |
| SWITZERLAND | Heavy Electrical Equipment | ABB LTD. | 3.50 % |
| BRAZIL | Diversified Metals & Mining | CMPH.VALE DO RIO DOCE | 3.34 % |
| UNITED STATES | Construction & Farm Machinery | CATERPILLAR INCO. | 3.17 % |
| SINGAPORE | Construction & Farm Machinery | SEMBCORP MARINE LTD. | 2.59 % |
| SOUTH AFRICA | Diversified Metals & Mining | AFN.RAINBOW MRLS.LTD. | 2.45 % |
| INDONESIA | Diversified Metals & Mining | ANEKA TAMBANG TERBUKA | 2.45 % |
| CHINA | Construction & Engineering | CHINA COMMS.CON.CO.LTD. | 2.36 % |
| SOUTH AFRICA | Heavy Electrical Equipment | REUNERT LTD. | 2.36 % |
| FRANCE | Heavy Electrical Equipment | AREVA CI | 2.35 % |
| FRANCE | Construction & Engineering | ALSTOM SA | 2.19 % |
| MALAYSIA | Construction & Engineering | GAMUDA BHD. | 2.19 % |
| RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Diversified Metals & Mining | MMC NORILSK NICKEL | 2.07 % |
Invesco PowerShares, certainly is no ETF lightweight. The fund provider has more than 100 domestic and international ETFs with close to $14 billion in assets under management. The company operates in 20 countries and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ.
Remember, do not hesitate to e-mail me any questions that you have about ETFs. To do so, click here. I’ll try to answer your questions in a future ETF Talk.
Jim Woods is a 30-plus-year veteran of the markets with varied experience as a broker, hedge fund trader, financial writer, author and newsletter editor.
His books include co-authoring, “Billion Dollar Green: Profit from the Eco Revolution,” and “The Wealth Shield: How to Invest and Protect Your Money from Another Stock Market Crash, Financial Crisis or Global Economic Collapse.” He’s also ghostwritten many books and articles, as well as edited content for some of the investment industry’s biggest luminaries. Read more about Jim Woods.
