The fall of crude oil prices, combined with the recent invasion of Georgia, has the Russia ETF reeling. Market Vectors Russia ETF (RSX) reached its highest level a few months back in mid-May largely due to oil prices reaching record highs of $147/barrel. According to Joanne Von Alroth of Investor’s Business Daily, RSX is heavily comprised of oil and gas companies making up 42% of the ETF. With crude oil dropping all the way to under $115/barrel over the past few months, it is clear to see why RSX has lost approximately 31% since May.

While oil pricing has a major impact on the performance of Russia’s ETF, the recent conflict with the country of Georgia has investors uncertain of the political direction. On August 8^th, 2008, the Investor’s Business Daily article points out that RSX dropped 5.5% during the day of the invasion. Investor’s are looking to put their funds into a place with less volatility as the turmoil in Russia remains unresolved.

On June 12, 2008, Claymore Securities and The Bank of New York Mellon pioneered the only U.S.-listed frontier market ETF, known as Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets ETF (FRN). Two weeks after the launch of FRN, Claymore has announced a change to the underlying index meant to rebalance the markets. As a result of the change, The BNY Mellon New Frontier DR Index has added three more country markets to the mix, according to the Business Wire press release. The countries that have been added include Kuwait, Estonia, and Ukraine, which now brings the market exposure to 17 countries. According to Business Wire, the countries that now make up FRN are as follows: Bahrain, Chile, Columbia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Ukraine and United Arab Emirate. Christian Magoon, President of Claymore and Head of its ETF Group, states, "With its expanded 17 country-composition, FRN continues to provide frontier investors with access to this intriguing growth opportunity.