The company, based in Chicago, had $33 million in assets at the end of last year. The board of trustees decided to close all 17 of the NETS funds, citing current market conditions, the inability of the funds to attract significant market interest and their future viability.

Their final day of trading will be Feb. 9, and any investor holding shares after that date will receive a cash distribution equal to the net asset value (NAV) of their shares as determined on Feb. 20.

If funds aren’t grabbing market share, closing them is the responsible thing to do.

The ETF provider was the first to launch a line of funds that tracked the major foreign market indexes. Some of their funds included:

Stocks on both continents rose by varying degrees on the news, says Louise Watt for the Associated Press. The Group of Seven, an organization made of up the world’s leading economic powers, said today that they would do everything they could to help ease the crisis.

Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.22%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.42%, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.27%. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.6% and in China, the Shanghai Composite jumped 7.8%.

Northern Trust’s line of ETFs offers exposure to the indexes of several countries around the world, all of which launched this year, including:

• NETS FTSE 100 (LDN), down 19.5% since April 10 inception
• NETS CAC 40 (FRC), down 17.5% since April 16 inception
• NETS DAX (DAX), down 18.5% since May 22 inception
• Nets Hang Seng (HKG), down 17.1% since April 16 inception

Other funds that offer exposure to these countries include:

• iShares MSCI France (EWQ), down 19.6% year-to-date
• iShares MSCI Germany (EWG), down 22.3% year-to-date
• iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 (FXI), down 30.4% year-to-date
• iShares MSCI Japan (EWJ), down 14.5% year-to-date

Just look at Sunday’s elections: pro-democracy parties won 23 seats in the 60-member Legislative Council elections. Although that’s down from 25 after the last election in 2004, the losses only came from the ranks of special-interest legislators, reports the Wall Street Journal Asia.

Voter turnout was low – 45% – but the pro-democracy candidates did better than expected and retained a critical veto power, says Carl Delfeld for ETF Xray.

Voters are frustrated with the current government’s economic record. Just before Sunday’s vote, a public opinion poll found that 87% of voters said their decision would be driven by “livelihood” issues such as housing and education. Seventy-seven percent said they were focusing on economic policies.

Inflation is running 6.3% and gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 4.2% in the second quarter, down sharply from 7.3% in the first.

ETFs that are related:

• NETS Hang Seng Index (HKG), down 17.5% since April 16 inception
• iShares MSCI Hong Kong Index (EWH), down 31.2% year-to-date

That was just after the economy began to recover after shrinking during a respiratory syndrome epidemic,  reports Nipa Piboontanasawat for Bloomberg.

GDP rose 4.2% in the second quarter from a year earlier, and the curbed global demand for Chinese-made exports shipped through Hong Kong has affected their economy. The GDP in the previous three months had risen 7.3%. From the first quarter, Hong Kong’s economy contracted 1.4%.

Likewise, rising prices and a stock market decline has dampened the hot streak of iShares MSCI Hong Kong (EWH). Top holdings are given toward financial services at a whopping 55%, giving the outlook for a recovery a longer time frame. Utilities are weighted at 14.4% and telecom at 10.4% round out the ETF.

Also launched this year is the NETS Hang Seng Index Fund (HKG), which is down 11% since its April 11 inception. The fund has a lower weighting in financials, at 43.2%. Telecommunications is 16.3% and energy is 12.2%.

Investors today dumped Hong Kong banking stocks after JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced more losses from its mortgage-related investments, reports Thomson Financial.

The government is keeping its forecast for economic growth between 4% and 5% for this year. The expansion in 2007 was at 6.4%, while inflation was 2%. This year, it’s expected to jump to 4.2%.

Many investors are pondering whether they should get back into the Chinese market now and what impact, if any, the Olympics will have in both the near- and long-term.

The Games of the XXIX Olympiad are showing off the best athletes of the world, but it could also be a chance for China to flex its economic muscle for investors. Over the past 20 years, the Olympics held in Greece, Spain, and South Korea have helped to spotlight the economies of the host countries. Now it’s time for China’s strength to shine, reports John Spence for MarketWatch.

China has long been growing since before the games, at a clip of 10% a year for the past 20 years. One strategist points out that he expects the trends to continue – games or no. Innovation, technology and labor will continue to be factors in driving China’s explosive growth.

There are plenty of paths to take investors to China via ETFs:

• iShares MSCI/Xinhua China 25 index (FXI), down 21.3% year-to-date
• NETS Hang Seng China Enterprises (HKG), down 6.2% since April 16 inception
• SPDR S&P China (GXC), down 26% year-to-date
• PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ), down 29.2% year-to-date
• WisdomTree Dreyfus Chinese Yuan Fund (CYB), up 0.3% since May 22 inception