First Trust has filed with the SEC to create three new funds - two commodities and one emerging market - that will seek to latch onto the growing market for the two asset classes.

First Trust filed for the following three ETFs with the SEC:

1. First Trust BICK Index Fund

2. First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund

3. First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund

The First Trust BICK Index Fund (BICK) is a play on the commonly associated growth countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. However, the ETF will exclude Russia in favor of South Korea, according to the SEC filing. The fund will equally weigh each country with 25% of the portfolio.

The First Trust ISE Global Copper Index Fund and First Trust ISE Global Platinum Index Fund will track firms involved in mining, exploration, and refining copper and platinum. The platinum fund will be expanded to include companies involved in similar metals, such as palladium, osmium, iridium, ruthenium and rhodium. Each fund will trade with a .70% annual fee.

The famed investment bank Goldman Sachs has filed with the SEC to create a line of exchange-traded funds. Its first filing has its sights on emerging markets, including Brazilian, Chinese, Indian and Korean ETFs.

The fund’s index will track the top 85% of companies by market value in each country divested in the index, Bloomberg reports. The index is to be created by a firm not affiliated with Goldman Sachs and will not be actively-managed, unlike the majority of Goldman’s offerings and investment products.

Although few details have been released, analysts are expecting that the fund will cater to high net-worth investors and investment companies alike, as well as offer low expenses to cater to large investors. Goldman’s entry into exchange-traded funds is likely to be a game-changing move for the industry, which is accustomed to retail-level niche investments.

EGA Emerging Global Shares has filed for a new line of seven exchange-traded funds that would center on BRIC nations and their economies. Six of the funds target infrastructure and mid cap stocks, while the remainder is set to track a broader index of Asian companies.

The new funds filed with the SEC are:

1. Emerging Global Shares INDXX India Infrastructure Index Fund

2. Emerging Global Shares INDXX China Infrastructure Index Fund

3. Emerging Global Shares INDXX Brazil Infrastructure Index Fund

4. Emerging Global Shares INDXX India Mid Cap Index Fund

5. Emerging Global Shares INDXX China Mid Cap Index Fund

6. Emerging Global Shares INDXX Brazil Mid Cap Index Fund

7. Emerging Global Shares INDXX Growing Asia Large Cap Index Fund

All of the funds seek maximum diversification, opting to limit single companies to no more than 10% of the index. The goal of this strategy is to fix the common under-diversification problem prevalent among emerging ETFs. The infrastructure funds will be comprised of 50 stocks for the India fund and 30 for Brazil and China, according to the SEC filing.

The Mid-Cap variety funds will seek out companies headquartered in China, India and Brazil. The Indian fund will require that the companies are smaller than the smallest stock in the S&P CNX Nifty Index, while the Chinese fund will invest in companies ranging in size from $500 million to $5 billion. Brazil’s fund will be based upon slightly smaller companies that range between $400 million to $4 billion.

The Growing Asia Large Cap Index Fund seeks to track the returns of the top 50 large cap stocks in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, and it will dedicate half the funds to Chinese and Indian stocks.

After nearly quadrupling decade lows, gold continues to make a comeback with investors. Now that gold investing is back on the priority list for investors, the metal is breaking through previous price records.

Spot gold struck new highs of $1087.50 per ounce on the NYMEX, while the most actively traded ETF, US Gold Shares (GLD: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which tracks the value of 1/10^th of an ounce of gold, ran as high as $107.41. Reuters reports that gold buying was strong from retail ETF investors, with the US Gold Shares tacking on a growth of .4% in reserves in just one day.

Further helping gold’s rally was a one-time purchase of half of the IMF’s gold reserves by India. The country traded some of its hefty foreign reserves for 200 metric tonnes, The Wall Street Journal reports. Below is a look at GLD’s climb over the past year.

With gold breaking through the important $1000 psychological barrier, gold ETFs have been on the move. The new highs have been driven mostly by demand stemming from investors fears that the stock market may be overpriced.

Last week’s gold demand reached a level within 1% of an all time record, Bloomberg reports. ETF Securities now holds more than $70.8 million in its gold ETF (SGOL.P), which was launched only on September 9^th, and the company itself facilitated 8.323 million ounces in trading on Monday alone.

Long holdings of gold positions have risen to a 16-year high, unseen since the last housing bubble in the early nineties. U.S. gold demand has been displaced by record demand from India and the European markets, where investors are seeking safety, as well as protection from global inflationary practices.

The best performing ETFs have been the gold miners. Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (GDX: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) posted a dramatic 164% return since October, when gold prices sank as low as $710 an ounce. During the same period, gold posted disproportionate returns of 44%. The chart below illustrates the performance of GDX over the past year.