International ETFs have exploded in popularity, largely due to the fact that they make it relatively easy for an individual investor to trade a singe focused country or region. Remember, however, that ETFs differ from each other, sometimes in huge ways, so be sure to investigate the holdings and structure of an ETF/ETN before you invest or trade in it.

Let's take a look at the top-performing International ETFs on a Year-To-Date basis for 2009 (data source here):

2009 YTD Top Performing International ETFs

After years of being snubbed by the European Union, Turkey has turned to its immediate neighbors for economic enrichment. As a result, Turkey’s economy and ETF could continue to see gains next year.

In the last couple of years, Turkey economy has been augmented by increased exports to its Middle East and north African neighbors, extending pipelines for transferring energy, more air traffic and a number of infrastructure projects, according to The Economist.

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Frontier markets are a notch below emerging markets, but they’re preparing to become a force in their own right. There are a variety of ETFs that can help you access these nascent economies.

Over the next three-to-nine months, frontier markets are anticipated to outperform the emerging and developed markets, reports Allen Wan for Bloomberg. The Middle East is in a position to lead the way, since the region has not yet recovered from the global market meltdown, making valuations cheap. The region’s equities are expected to catch up as corporate earnings improve.

Do emerging markets seem too conservative for your tastes? Well, it may be time to consider the high risk and potentially high profits associated with frontier market ETFs.

Frontier markets are not stable enough to be named “emerging,” but these markets do have more potential to deliver higher returns to compensate for the greater risk, remarks Will McClatchy ETFZone. Frontier markets are defined as suffering from extreme volatility, poor trading, corruption, dismal accounting and a tendency to expropriate foreign capital.

There were some substantial price moves today for many country and region funds. How do they look now relative to their 200-day simple moving averages?

The chart below shows the ratio of the price to the 200-day average, and the 100-day average to the 200-day average, for 35 country and region funds as of end-of-day August 17, 2009. (Click chart to enlarge.)

Big oil is turning its attention to Iraq once again. But this time, instead of fear and dread, oil companies are looking to the Gulf state with hope and optimism. In recent years, the Iraqi oil industry usually made the news for all the wrong reasons: sabotages of pipelines, bomb attacks at drilling sites, employee kidnappings, and government corruption. But U.S. and international oil firms are now focusing on the oil-rich nation as the site of expansion efforts that could prove to be very profitable.

Beginning next week, the Iraqi government will auction off oil contracts to foreign firms for the first time since Western companies were kicked out of the country in 1972 in a broad wave of Mideast oil nationalization. By welcoming in foreign contractors, Iraq hopes to boost production at six developed oil fields to levels not seen even before the country’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

Many investors who had the resolve to keep their equity holdings in place as global markets plunged to new lows in the first few months of 2009 were the beneficiaries of a familiar gift from an old friend. Emerging markets, which have regularly enhanced investor returns in recent years (well, prior to 2008 at least...) have led the way in the recent bull run, recovering a significant portion of the disproportionate losses they incurred during the global recession.

But as the ETF industry continues to expand, investors may begin to look beyond emerging markets to a new group of countries for both international diversification and enhanced portfolio returns.

Gulf States ETFs, which had been enjoying sustained rallies in recent months, paused last week as turmoil in Iran intensified and tremendous uncertainty looming over the entire region. While few ETFs on the market maintain any direct holdings in Iranian companies, the fallout over presidential elections held earlier this month threatens to destabilize the entire region, halting a rally that had seen these funds focused on other Gulf states cross into the black for the year.

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal's Jerry Seib penned an interesting article examining the possible outcomes of the current situation in Iran, none of which are particularly appealing to foreign leaders watching the events unfold. I'm inclined to view Mr. Seib'spossibilities as a bit naive and optimistic, particularly after a weekend of violent clashes between supporters and news Monday morning that some voting irregularities have been uncovered, with the number of votes cast in many regions exceeding the number of voters. Whereas a few weeks ago many (myself included) were optimistic that these elections could usher in broad-based reforms and an easing of international tensions, the most likely scenarios now all involve Ahmadinejad remaining in power, perhaps bolder and more defiant than ever.

Middle Eastern countries could form a monetary union that could potentially further consolidate their economic power and boost their markets, along with regional ETFs.

The Middle East is being transformed by the retail industry, according to Reportlinker. Large shopping malls, hypermarkets, supermarkets and other organized chains are proliferating in the region as a result of a larger expatriate population, rising purchasing power and copious amount of oil money attracting premium and luxury brands.

Could the ETF providers have introduced frontier country investing at a less opportune moment in time? Probably not.

It was just about 1 year ago when intrigue in MENA (Middle East North Africa) began to take root. With emerging Asia ETFs and emerging Latin America ETFs having posted extraordinary gains for nearly 6 years, providers began touting the potential of even more exotic investing landscapes.

When we manage portfolios, we don't like to get fancy. Investing doesn't have to be complicated or complex. If you don't understand it, you probably shouldn't own it.

Here's a portfolio comprised mainly of low cost ETFs that we like for the intermediate to long term. The investment strategy is simple and focused: to hedge against inflation and dollar devaluation. We subscribe to the concept that the best ideas are also the simplest.

The actual ETFs weren’t listed, as voters aren’t required to mention the fund’s name, just the firm’s. It’s probably just as well. I surmise that PowerShares won for producing the first family of active ETFs in the U.S. rather than any particular fund. PowerShares’ Active Alpha Multi Cap Fund (PQZ), Active AlphaQ Fund (PQY), Active Low Duration Fund (PLK) and the Active Mega-Cap Fund (PMA) were all launched on April 11, 2008. Does any one fund stand out as more innovative than the others? I don’t think so. I suggest they won more for bringing the active concept to the U.S. market.

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Following the OPEC meeting this weekend, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi asserted that $75 a barrel represented a “fair price” which incorporated the cost of investment required to prove up more oil from undeveloped oilfields. But, quite noticeably, OPEC was unable to identify today’s demand-supply equation. In fact, the problem today is not finding more oil; there are dozens and dozens of proven energy resources waiting to be tapped. The problem is to figure out how much oil is the world buying on a daily basis today, and how much it is expected to buy through a recession-ridden 2009.

The problem is aggravated by a number of other factors. Primarily, “best estimates” apart, nobody really knows how much oil is produced and sold every day since the energy cartel (and Russia) have never subjected their petrochemical complexes to independent, verifiable international-standard audits. Then there is the issue of “rogue” producers, like Iran and Venezuela, who must keep selling oil regardless of OPEC-dictated prices and quotas, simply to support national budgets and political commitments. Finally, consumption figures from the highly-favoured economies (e.g. China, India, Turkey and South Korea) are dubious, at best; and, in any event, emerging market demand for oil and gas as a whole is, to a sizable extent, determined by the quantum of domestic subsidies.

Lately, it seem like new ETF's sprout almost every week. ETF's are a very popular and cheap way to invest in a group of stocks that share common traits. KOL for coal related stocks, MOO for agriculture related names, EEB for BRIC countries, and a plethora of others for shorting or investing in global markets as well as commodities and currencies.

Following are some new ETF's to diversify across some new emerging markets that could be the BRICs of tomorrow. Please do keep in mind that some of these ETF's are extremely risky and volatile, and have little to no information available online. However, for investors who would like to put some money to work in riskier, but potentially explosive markets, the following list is a great start.

Middle Eastern ETFs?

The Middle East is shrouded in mystery and investors who want to dabble in those economies should do so with a bit of caution, say advisors, as ETFs are allowing access for all.

By Jim Wiandt

Heather Bell sent me this recent link to commentary from Jim Cramer, who in it is quoted as saying, among other things, "I'm going to tell you why I think my way, my method, is better than putting your money in a mutual fund, or an index fund, or playing around with exchange-traded funds," Cramer said.