Troubles in Greece have only incited the popularity of exchange-traded commodities in the wake of what could be the largest bankruptcy since the credit crunch began.

Often suffering from limited liquidity, currency funds are now on the up and up. The CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which has an average volume just under 580,000 shares daily, posted volume of over three million shares on February 19, the day Greece’s debt issues came to light. Since that time, the volume has increased over 60%, reaching nearly one million shares daily.

Although overall volume for the 30 different currency ETFs on the market remains thin, a growing number of ETF investors are using exchange-traded currencies as a way to hedge their portfolios. The sector recorded $7 billion in assets under management in February, MarketWatch reports.

Global fears of another deflationary wave stemming from Dubai and Greece debt issues have sent investors fleeing from gold ETFs. The most popular fund, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), shed 13.72 tons in just one day of trading this week.

The recent dip in gold prices from $1200 to $1120 per ounce suggests that despite global inflationary pressures from world governments and central banks, investors are still fleeing to cash when problems arise. TheStreet reports that while gold prices dipped, the US dollar index tacked on 1% against a basket of currencies as investors sought cash and equivalents, rather than commodities or equities.

While investors may not favor US based fund SPDR Gold Shares, a spokesman for ETFS Gold Trust (SGOL: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), a smaller gold ETF with holdings in Switzerland, indicated that inflows remained strong in the ETF Securities fund, most likely due to where the gold is stored.

By June of 2009, a handful of countries could have a new MSCI market classification. MSCI Barra has begun discussions on the potential upgrade of South Korea and Israel. Polya Lesova of Market Watch writes that the two countries, currently listed as emerging markets, may be raised to developed market status. South Koreas currency convertibility could be a major obstacle; however, as international investors have shown concern with the won. Other possible upgrades include the transition of Kuwait, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates from frontier markets to emerging markets as they continue to make progress. The emerging market performances are tracked by iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM).

While some countries have shown signs of growth and have a chance at improving their MSCI status, other markets have slowed down. The Market Watch article explains that each of these reclassifications will be reviewed for months before making a final decision. However, MSCI has already decided on the downgrade of Jordan to a frontier market from its prior emerging market classification. The decision came primarily in response to its size and lack of liquidity. Other markets in danger of similar downgrades are Colombia and Argentina. Market Watch claims that these two markets have until December to make some "significant improvements of capital flow restrictions. A Citigroup Global Markets analyst shared insight into the magnitude of these discussions saying, "MSCI is taking an important step towards making some of the most significant changes to the composition of the emerging markets indices since the reclassification of Portugal (1997) and Greece (2000) as developed markets several years ago.”