The Benefits of Global Sector ETFs

As the U.S. dollar has fallen and emerging markets begin to account for an increasing portion of the world’s GDP, exchange traded funds (ETFs) that offer access to global sectors begin to sound like an appealing idea.

Kyle Waller of Index Universe states that investing in global sectors offers the benefits of higher growth possibilities abroad and lower correlations to the broader U.S. market. Additionally, these specific ETFs enable investors to gain both international as well as domestic exposure while limiting risk. (More reasons to go global).

The number of global sector funds is steadily increasing. Emerging Global Shares is slowly rolling out a variety of emerging market sector funds, which hold companies in these markets. The provider also prides itself on its pure emerging market exposure, excluding South Korea, Taiwan and Israel, markets generally considered to have “emerged.”

iShares also has some global sector funds, targeting such sectors as energy, consumer discretionary and finance. (More ways to access international markets).

Global sector ETFs are just another way to fine-tune your portfolio in order to get the exposure you want.

For more stories on global ETFs, visit our global ETFs category.

EGS DJ Emerging Mkts Met & Mining Titans (NYSEArca: EMT) gives exposure to metals and mining and focuses on fronteir and truly emerging markets.  EMT is up 49.2% since its inception. Visit Emerging Global Shares for a full list of funds.

iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: IXC) is energy-specific and is up 26.1% year-to-date.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.