Blackrock’s iShares has announced the launch of three new exchange-traded funds catering to specific geographic regions. Its newest funds center on Ireland, Indonesia and the United States.

The three new funds are as follows:

1. iShares MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund (EIRL: Quote)
2. iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund (EIDO: Quote)
3. iShares MSCI USA Index Fund (EUSA: Quote)

The Ireland fund is perhaps the riskiest, following one of the worst recessions in the nation’s history. The fund will invest in the top 99% of stocks by market-cap, and it maintains solid exposure to materials, consumer staples, and industrials, according to a press release.

The Indonesia ETF, a first of its kind, will invest directly in the top 99% of Indonesian listed securities. The fund is largely centered on financial, energy, and telecom names, which make up 55% of the new fund.

The USA ETF is the broadest of any domestic iShares fund, with holdings in the top 85% of all stocks by market cap. The fund is most vested in technology, financials, and healthcare.

The iShares MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund, iShares MSCI Indonesia Investable Market Index Fund, and iShares MSCI USA Index Fund will trade with annual expense ratios of .55%, .65%, and .15% respectively.

The race to dominate country specific funds is in full swing. iShares recently filed with the SEC to create another six country-specific ETFs.

The six new funds are:

1. iShares MSCI Brazil Small Cap Index Fund

2. iShares MSCI Egypt Capped Investable Market Index Fund

3. iShares MSCI Ireland Capped Investable Market Index Fund

4. iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index Fund

5. iShares MSCI Russia Capped Index Fund

6. iShares MSCI USA Index Fund

Similar to previous country-specific funds from iShares, all will track an MSCI index to generate returns for investors. iShares’ entry into Brazil is interesting, as the firm already operates a broad based fund that invests in the largest Brazilian companies. The small-cap blend will compete directly with Van Eck’s Market Vectors Brazil Small-Cap Fund (BRF: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), which took the markets by storm in 2009 and attracted more than $700 million in assets.

iShares will be the first ETF sponsor to track Egyptian and Irish stocks, two areas that are currently under-represented with ETF investors. Neither ticket symbols nor annual expense ratios have been released.

The country-specific line of NETS-brand ETFs from Northern Trust was unable to persevere through the market turmoil. As a result, Northern Trust is reportedly getting out of the ETF business altogether. The seventeen funds were only able to reel in a combined $33 million by the end of 2008, according to a PRNewswire press release. The NETS Trust Board of Trustees made the decision to liquidate the group of ETFs after explaining that market conditions contributed to a lack of investor interest in the products. The NETS line is scheduled to stop trading February 9, 2009 on the NYSE Arca, and the liquidation of shares is projected for February 20, 2009. The ETF associated with Ireland, for example, only gathered $1 million in total net assets since its inception in June 2008. This fund is known as NETS ISEQ 20 Index Fund (IQE: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News).

All 16 NETS-brand ETFs from Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) are in the same boat; they have declared zero year-end capital gains distributions for the entire product class. The expanding group of NETS ETFs provides access to various markets around the world. A PRNewswire press release reported zero capital gains for 2008 and lists each of the funds, such as Ireland’s market via NETS ISEQ 20 Index Fund (IQE: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) or Portugal’s market in NETS PSI 20 Index Fund (LIS: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News).

Tax planning becomes even more important this time of year and in this economic setting. According to Peter K. Ewing, head of NTGI’s ETF business, “In this current economic environment, we urge our clients — and investors everywhere — to think very carefully about tax planning and their investment outlooks for 2009. Implementing smart tax planning strategies can prove highly advantageous to the average investor, and ETFs are a very useful tool for effectively lowering your overall tax burden.”

The Deutsche Boerse is the home of 22 new Dow Jones ETFs that have just been licensed to Commerzbank AG. The GlobeNewswire press release has identified the indexes as: Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50, Dow Jones EURO STOXX Select Dividend 30, Dow Jones STOXX 600, all 18 Dow Jones STOXX 600 Supersector indexes and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. With the access to this extensive list of indexes through ETFs, investors will have broad exposure to U.S. and European markets, as well as various sectors. Werner Buerki, chairman, STOXX supervisory board confirms that point by saying, “The 21 Dow Jones STOXX indexes chosen by Commerzbank for their lineup of ETFs offer investors broad varieties to participate in the performance of the core European markets and sectors.”

The broad market indexes are described further in the article. For example, Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 Index is comprised of 50 sector leaders within twelve European countries, such as France, Germany or Spain. Similarly, the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index provides a broad exposure to Europe by investing in 18 European markets like Ireland, Italy, or the United Kingdom. The other main type of index is the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Supersector Index. There are 18 of this indexes that are based on companies of the Dow Jones STOXX 600 but are specific to various sectors such as Financials, Health Care, or Technology.