| Like the US stock market, the international sector has done little in the last 12 months. We do like one fund, however, because of the location and diversity of its holdings. The fund is called BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index Fund. Its holdings are dispersed over 10 countries and 16 sectors - all in American Depository Receipt shares traded here in the US. The companies in the index have an aggregate market capitalization of $366 billion. The top 10 holdings constitute 43% of the portfolio and includes companies from Taiwan, Israel, India, Brazil, Mexico and Korea. While there is the usual concentration in communications (24%) and computer related (19%), there is also strong representation by Oil & Gas (15%) and Banking (13%) |
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AUG05
This BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 ADR Index Fund (ADRE) was our first international recommendations. We picked this ETF because of the diversity of its geographic locations and holdings.
Its holdings are dispersed over 10 countries and 16 sectors all of which are in American Depository Receipts (ADR), that is, they all have trading vehicles on U.S. exchanges. The shares were recommended at a price of $83.29, they are now trading at $98.17 for a percentage gain of 21.74%, not bad for four months. They also paid a cash dividend of .97 in June. This remains one of our
core holdings in the international market. We still think these are worth holding.
JUL05
We recommended the BLDRS Emerging Markets 50 Index Fund (ADRE) in the May 2005 issue at a price of $83.29. The ETF has done well, rising to its current price of $93.22. The three-month increase in this issue is a bit more than 15%, with a one-month increase at about 1.2%. Their largest holding is Taiwan Semiconductor at 8% and both Taiwan and ADRE have similar charts upward charts. We see the same economic trends continuing and recommend continuing to hold this ETF. |
