Although the pace may eventually slow down, Barron’s reports that emerging markets still have room left to grow in the long haul. And for the time being, they may be the place to hide out as developed markets still work toward normalcy. In the near-term, growth rates in developed nations are expected to be lackluster, and much less robust than those in the developing world’s. (What you’re missing when you’re not globally invested).

Countries that are resource rich and developing are stockpiling cash and shoring up their balance sheets for a strong recovery and a growth spurt unlike any seen before. Earnings and  economic activity have been revived. Morgan Stanley feels that earnings in emerging markets have bottomed in the third quarter and they’re now set to climb again. (Why frontier markets could be even bigger).

For more stores about emerging markets, visit our emerging markets category.

There are a variety of ways to play emerging markets. There are broad funds, such as iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: EEM), Vanguard Emerging Markets (NYSEArca: VWO) and iShares MSCI EAFE Index (NYSEArca: EFA).

There are funds that focus on regions, such as Claymore/BNY Mellon BRIC (NYSEArca: EEB) and BLDRSAsia 50 ADR Index (Nasdaq: ADRA).

Finally, there are single-country funds, such as iShares MSCI Brazil (NYSEArca: EWZ) and Market Vectors Vietnam (NYSEArca: VNM).

Keep in mind that the narrower you get in your exposure to emerging and frontier markets, the higher your risk will be. Be sure to have an entry and exit strategy before you invest. (How to follow trends).

Brazil’s economy has already been humming along, but two major sporting events could just be the icing on the cake: Rio de Janeiro has been tapped to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Brazil will also host the 2014 World Cup soccer championship.

Other points in favor of the growing country’s economy, according to Charles Kraul for The Los Angeles Times:

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that Brazil will outperform Mexico in 2009
• Consumer spending in Brazil is a big part of the country’s success; government incentives have also helped
• The government mandates that subsidized loan rates on homes and appliances be underwritten by state-owned lenders
• Public sector jobs have been added and welfare payments have been increased by 30%
• Brazilian interest rates are at 8.5%, the lowest they’ve been in history in real terms

There are several ways to play Brazil’s growth story with ETFs. The most direct is the single-country fund, iShares MSCI Brazil (NYSEArca: EWZ). It’s up 90.1% year-to-date. The fund has its heaviest weightings in materials and financials, which make up more than 50% of the fund. The materials sector could especially benefit as Rio builds the necessary buildings and stadiums to host the Olympics.

Another play is the Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap (NYSEArca: BRF), which is up 12.7% in the last month. Small-caps tend to do well in a recovery, and this fund also has heavy weightings in consumer discretionary, industrials and materials – all areas that could benefit while Rio builds up and starts selling Olympics-related products.

The Brazilian real is also on what many analysts say is a sustained uptrend. This year so far, it’s the world’s second-best performing currency and it’s on track to rally for an eighth consecutive month, report Fabio Alves and Paulo Winterstein for Bloomberg. Next year, Brazil’s IPOs could double as the stock market continues to rally. One analyst believes that the real will rally to 1.80 per dollar by the end of this year. WisdomTree Dreyfus Brazilian Real (NYSEArca: BZF) is up 28.7% year-to-date.

For more diversified exposure, both iShares MSCI Bric (NYSEArca: BKF) and Claymore/BNY BRIC (NYSEArca: EEB) have heavy weightings in Brazil, along with exposure to the other four BRIC countries (India, Russia and China). They’re up 64.4% and 64.2% year-to-date, respectively.

For more stories about Brazil, visit our Brazil ETF category.

India’s economy is forecast to see “definite signs of recovery” in the second half of the current fiscal year, reports The Economic Times. Growth is predicted to be in the 6% to 6.5% range. But there are a number of investors who want to expand their horizons beyond the BRIC countries.

While BRIC countries have been growing and moving, the expansion of other developing nations is widening the choices investors have. For instance, Vietnam, Thailand and Turkey have all gone through growth that is every bit as significant, explains Don Dion for TheStreet.

While the idea of Vietnam or South Korea may appear refreshing if you’re looking for some fresh blood for your portfolio, it’s key to remember that emerging markets entail risk. The best thing to do is watch on the sidelines for the moving averages, then get in slowly. If you enter with a discipline and a sell point, you’ll check your emotions at the door.

As Don Dion for The Street explains, these funds can be volatile, so a small asset allocation to these funds is appropriate if you plan to take a buy-and-hold approach.

The consideration that goes into single-country ETFs is that as an investor, you are subject to politics, social traumas and reforms, and of course, concentration in a particular sector. This re-iterates the need for every investor to brush up and do some research before going in.

A sample of BRIC ETFs, and a couple alternatives:

• iShares MSCI BRIC (NYSEArca: BKF): up 66.9% year-to-date
• Claymore/BNY BRIC (NYSEArca: EEB): up 66.1% year-to-date
• Market Vectors Russia (NYSEArca: RSX): up 104.3% year-to-date
• iShares MSCI South Korea (NYSEArca: EWY): up 67.3% year-to-date
• Market Vectors Vietnam (NYSEArca: VNM): up 10% since Aug. 14 inception
• iShares MSCI Turkey (NYSEArca: TUR): up 84.3% year-to-date
• iShares MSCI Thailand (NYSEArca: THD): up 73.6% year-to-date

For more stories about BRIC ETFs, visit our BRIC category.

Emerging markets are in a position to strengthen themselves against the developed world.  Of the emerging nations, China is by far the largest and recently its stock market capitalization surpassed that of Japan’s, which is the second-largest economy in the world. China is expected to surpass Japan to be the second largest econ0my next year.

Curtis Mewbourne, managing director at PIMCO states that emerging markets, especially Brazil, Russia, China and India, known as the BRIC nations, have several factors in their favor:

• In order for a nation to become and remain dominant, it must reduce its dependency on others. Mewbourne states that the BRICs all share characteristics that could potentially enable them do this.  These include low labor costs, large populations and low levels of consumer debt.
• What makes these nations even more attractive is that global consumption growth in them is expected to grow exponentially.  A study by Credit Suisse indicates that by 2020, non-Japan Asia is expected to make up 32.3% of global consumption.
• Emerging nations, especially China, are one of the largest holders of U.S. debt and indirectly control the value of the U.S. dollar – a powerful tool.

There’s an increasing number of ways for investors to grab exposure to emerging markets. You can invest by broad market, region or single country. Two examples are:

• iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM): up 46.4% year-to-date

• Claymore/BNY Mellon BRIC (EEB): up 55.1% year-to-date

For more stories on emerging markets, visit our emerging markets category.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

Leaders of BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are gathering for their first official summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia today to discuss long-term plans, according to the Economist. Member nations may coordinate in an effort to find an alternative to the dollar as a global currency and expand bilateral trade.

Analysts say BRIC countries are stepping up cooperation in an attempt to reposition themselves in the international arena, as stated in ChinaView. The recent financial crisis has also been a trigger in convincing these countries of the need to establish a new international political and economic order.

One of their main concerns is that Western governments should better supervise their countries’ financial capital and enhance risk warnings and disclosure in financial services. BRIC members will also discuss future ways of handling financial crises and less reliance on the U.S. dollar.

BRIC leaders will establish a relationship of mutual cooperation and common development in emerging market economies. BRIC countries may pool resources into common development interests. They could supplement each other in the fields of finance, energy, services, technology, agriculture, environmental protection and food safety, along with multilateral trade talks at the WTO.

iShares MSCI BRIC (BKF): up 51.0% year-to-date

Claymore/BNY BRIC (EEB): up 49.5% year-to-date

SPDR S&P BRIC 40 (BIK): up 50.5% year-to-date

For more stories on BRIC countries, visist our BRICs category.

Max Chen contributed to this article.

For full disclosure, Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of EEB.

Luciano Siracusano, WisdomTree’s director of research, said in an appearance on CNBC this morning that these elections could put India in a better position to receive capital with a new political party in office. WisdomTree is the provider of the largest India-focused ETF.

The recent Congress party victory in national elections raised hopes of a revival in foreign direct investment and economic growth, as well as tax reform and significant infrastructure spending. Cherian Thomas and James Rupert for Bloomberg report that Manmohan Singh’s electoral victory is giving hope to half a billion Indians that poverty is not a way of life.

The rupee is up 3.3% so far, the most in more than 20 years.

There are a number of ways to gain exposure to India via ETFs, including as a single country or in a broad BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) ETF, which can help spread the risk among several emerging markets instead of pinpointing just one.

• PowerShares India (PIN): up 19.3% year-to-date

• WisdomTree India Earnings (EPI): up 22.6% year-to-date

• First Trust ISE Chindia (FNI): up 20.2% year-to-date

• Claymore/BNY BRIC (EEB): up 25.6% year-to-date; India is 9.2%; Brazil is 52.8% and China is 18.3%

For full disclosure, some of Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of EEB.

Former mutual fund investors who took a hit this year are facing a deteriorating market and the managers who picked the so-called “winning” stocks. Stock pickers in seven of nine U.S.-stock categories have trailed the corresponding S&P indexes, investment researcher Morningstar Inc. revealed.

The exchange traded fund(ETF) is gaining appeal to many individual investors who crave transparency and lower costs. Jonathon Burton for The Wall Street Journal reports that switching over to ETFs isn’t exactly easy, and there are no equal translations, so there is research to be done.

About 700 U.S.- and international-stock ETFs jumble various sectors, strategies and styles. Then, mixing matters are “fundamental” ETFs, which blend elements of active management with conventional indexing methods. Financial advisors can help sort through the mess.

At ETF Trends, model portfolios include iShares MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA) and Claymore/BNY Mellon BRIC (EEB), among others.  Expenses are low, you know what you’re buying, and from a diversification standpoint you should benefit over time.

As the market share of ETFs continues to double about every three years, the actively managed mutual fund is finding itself on unsure footing.

In 2008, investors yanked $235 billion from non-money market mutual funds while adding $175 billion to ETFs, and the pace of the growth is likely to quicken. Robert Dubois for Seeking Alpha reports that asset levels at many mutual fund companies are standing at one-half to one-third of pre-crisis levels, leaving revenue streams dried up and the industry at a standstill.

As of the end of March, there was $489 billion in 839 ETFs and ETNs, according to the National Stock Exchange. Mutual funds still have a significant number of assets – $9 trillion, to be exact.

This trend away from mutual funds and toward ETFs have been occurring before July 2007, but recent market troubles have taken it to the next level. As investors are learning to appreciate the importance of both superior product and superior advice, many are now full aware that picking market tops and bottoms is not the way to go.

The industry transition to low-cost, transparent index investing via ETFs is being driven at a grassroots level, by a stream of determined individual retail and institutional investors and like-minded advisers. The other side of the coin will be demanded, as many investors want to know where there money is, and why.

ETFs are becoming a popular investment tool for investors to gain exposure to emerging markets by removing the onerous task of picking individual stocks, writes Tom Lydon for Stocks, Futures, and Options (SFO) Magazine.

This nifty tool allows for exposure to markets like the BRIC countries with ETFs such as Claymore/BNY BRIC (EEB), SPDR S&P BRIC 40 (BIK), or iShares MSCI BRIC (BKF). An investor may also focus on the individual countries which include:

• Brazil, iShares MSCI Brazil (EWZ), has a strong economy that can endure the global downturn. It also has a rising middle and has a stable political system. But, Brazil heavily relies on commodities which handicapped them last year when commodities plunged.
• Market Vectors Russia (RSX), is known for its reliance on oil and government corruption. This market is rather volatile but the undaunted investor would see that the country has an abundant natural resource, large foreign exchange reserves and growing consumer economy.
• India, PowerShares India (PIN), is a fast-growing economy rich in educated and intelligent people. It is expected that the resurgence in India will have companies scouring for employees. But the country is crowded and has a poor infrastructure system. It has limits on foreign investment which may constrain growth.
• China, iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI), is seen as too dependent on its exporting industry. It is the world’s third-largest exporter and is left unshielded against a stagnant global economy.For those intrigued by the BRIC countries or other emerging markets, ETFs can target a specific emerging market with a fund for that country and they can target a region or class of emerging markets with a broad-based fund.

  The savvy investor should get ready for the time when the goddess of the markets once again graces us with her return. Our strategy notes that when a fund crosses above its trendline (the 200-day moving average), we’ll consider

Once thought to be de-coupled form the rest of the world, BRIC ETFs hit the market with major investor interest, and although there’s a downtrend showing through right now, these funds are still useful in the long run for diversification and portfolio allocation, reports Jonathon Bernstein for ETFZone.

Three BRIC ETFs he examines are:

• SPDR S&P BRIC 40 Index (BIK): down 58.5% year-to-date; 0.5% expense ratio

• iShares MSCI BRIC Index (BKF): down 61.2% year-to-date; 0.75% expense ratio

• Claymore Bank of New York BRIC (EEB): down 57.1% year-to-date; 0.7% expense ratio

The ETFs are closely correlated to the U.S. benchmarks, however, their performance has nothing to do with this, so they are still a useful diversification tool. China is growing at around 10% per year, India is growing at 8-9%, Brazil and Russia 5-7%. These rates are not constant, and of course depend on healthy participation of Western economies, as well as the rest of the world.

Allocation by country is different in each fund, while China and Brazil dominate 65-85% in each, and India and Russia get honorable mentions, but scant exposure. Industry allocation is more similar as industrial, energy, telecommunications and financials at the forefront.

After the downturn, some of the BRIC countries will likely recover better than others. Some might be in for long-term damage recovery, while others should rebound nicely.

Either way, we use trends to identify what areas are moving, and for the time being, the trend in these funds is down along with the rest of the globe.

In Brazil, the middle class is described as someone with a job in the formal economy, access to credit and who has ownership of a car or motorbike, so says The Economist.

One research institute says that this includes households with a monthly income ranging from about $600-$2,600. Since 2002, the proportion of the population that fits this description has increased from 44% to 52%. Brazil, previously notorious for its extremes, is now a middle-class country.

The new middle-class are people who would normally serve other people, so Brazilians are very aware of class, and none of them want to feel “cheap,” nor do they settle for anything less than cosmetically “perfect.” This could explain the national obsession with plastic surgery, with around 600,000 operations annually – second only to the United States.

The high interest rates of today’s Brazil is helping to calm the rapid growth in credit (in the year to July, it had grown 20%), and lending may be scaled back.

Many analysts feel that this newer middle class will still favor Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Worker’s Party rather than the center-left of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. The worker’s party will have to pay attention to this group of voters that have socially conservative attitudes toward issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

• iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ): down 20.9% year-to-date
• Claymore/BNY BRIC (EEB): down 28.6% year-to-date; Brazil is 57.8%
• streetTRACKS SPDR S&P BRIC 40 (BIK): down 29.9% year-to-date; Brazil is 27.3%
• iShares MSCI BRIC Index (BKF): down 35.3% year-to-date; Brazil is 34.6%