Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) has added a sixteenth ETF to its line of NETS funds, capturing the growing popularity in the Japanese real estate market. The new ETF, known as NETS Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Index Fund ETF (JRE), is considered to be the first ETF set up to follow the Tokyo Stock Exchange REIT Index, according to PRNewswire. JRE has just begun trading on the NYSE Arca and is providing American investors the opportunity to take advantage of real estate trends on an international basis, especially in Japan where there is tremendous potential. The head of ETF business at NTGI, Peter K. Ewing, provides insight into this market by contributing, “Japanese real estate represents over 10% of investment opportunities in the global real estate market. Trends show a surge of interest in the Japanese property sector — both domestically and internationally — as investors look to re-enter the market after a turbulent period. We believe this is the ideal time to give U.S. investors unparalleled access to a market with significant growth potential.”

Investors now have a vehicle to track the performance of the Middle East region. WisdomTree has just debuted its newest ETF on the Nasdaq Stock Market, known as WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF). Business Wire reports that GULF will provide exposure to about 70 dividend-paying companies located in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. President of WisdomTree, Bruce Lavine, discusses his view of the new fund in the following Business Wire quote, "The growing economies of the Middle East region, while driven by increasing revenues from oil exports, are becoming more diversified. We estimate that equities trading in the Middle East region now make up nearly 2% of the world’s total market capitalization. Further, the equity returns in the Middle East have historically demonstrated a low correlation to the U.S., developed, and even Emerging Markets, and may be a source of portfolio diversification.”

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.”