China Investment Corp. (CIC) has decided to inject $200 billion into their sovereign wealth funds, and $250 million of that is going toward emerging markets, reports Irwin Greenstein for Seeking Alpha. It turns out China must diverge from the falling dollar and tap into greater reserves such as Latin America, which can generate the energy necessary for China’s development.

CIC is responsible for managing part of China’s foreign exchange reserves, and it’s the sixth-largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. It began operations on Sept. 29, 2007. Sovereign wealth funds are huge investment organizations owned by central banks and are accountable to no one.

CIC’s emerging markets plan has two focal points:

1) Diversifying out of their $1.7 trillion in foreign-exchange reserves, mostly U.S. treasury bonds and fixed-income assets

2) Gaining control of energy reserves

Just as other dollar investors are, CIC is taking a hit as the second-largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities.

Latin American ETFs might benefit from this move toward diversification:

• iShares MSCI Brazil Index (EWZ): up 0.8% year-to-date
• iShares S&P Latin America 40 Index Fund (ILF): up 2.8% year-to-date
• SPDR S&P Latin America (GML): up 0.6% year-to-date

South Africa’s state-owned power utility company Eskom is experiencing a full-years’ profit-plummet because of the run-up in coal. A report released this week stated that the company was concerned about the security of its future coal supplies, reports Brendan Ryan for Mining MX. If the coal shortage continues and South Africa’s production remains off, the report said that the country could face an annual shortage of 100 million tons by 2017.

Eskom said the full-year profit plummet is as much as 86%, while net income fell $121.4 million, or 923 million rand. The company’s coal consumption was up 5.2%, while fuel prices have tripled.

Carli Lourens for Bloomberg reports that South Africa is suffering a power shortage after the government delayed the country’s utility expansion program. Eskom is set to spend 343 billion rand over the next five years to boost generating capacity 11% to 47,681 megawatts.

Coal prices are forecast to rise further, because of growing demand from China and India, as well as delays in the expansion of coal mines in countries that produce and export the product, reports G. Chandrashekhar for Sify. It could also have something to do with people looking for some kind of fuel that falls under the category of “not gas or oil.”

If the predictions come true, Market Vectors Coal (KOL) might benefit. Since its inception on Jan. 15, it’s up 18.9%.

First, Google (GOOG) came out with earnings that were lower than expected. Then Microsoft (MSFT) missed earnings forecasts by a penny. The earnings seemed to signal that our slowing economy was weighing on demand for computer-related products, says Vivek Shankar for Bloomberg.

Google’s slide raises concern that spending is falling in the online advertising market, which they dominate. Microsoft dominates the software industry, where spending seems to have tapered off as well.

Companies that get a majority of their revenue outside the United States, such as Intel (INTC), have fared better. Intel’s earnings reports this week surpassed analyst estimates. Google gets half of its revenue in the United States, while Microsoft gets 60% of its revenue domestically. This strength doesn’t appear to be enough to boost the global technology ETF, however, particularly because Intel is not as strongly weighted in it as Google and Microsoft happen to be.

The technology ETFs trading lower on the news include:

• PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ): down 10.8% year-to-date; Google is 4.9%; Intel is 2.7%; Microsoft is 5.2%
• Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK): down 15.1% year-to-date; Google is 5.5%; Intel is 5.5%; Microsoft is 9.2%
• First Trust Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC): down 10.1% year-to-date; Google is 2.9%
• iShares S&P Global Technolgy Report (IXN): down 12.4% year-to-date; Google is 4.6%; Intel is 4.7% and Microsoft is 8.3%

The London-based provider, which deals in exchange traded commodities (ETCs) started two years ago with $60 million in assets. After the first year, the number of assets had grown to $2.5 billion. Today, they’re at $10.5 billion and are Europe’s largest ETF provider.

When they started out, “We were four guys. Now we’re 30. It’s changed a lot,” says Director Hector McNeil.

In 2006, the provider created the world’s first all-ETC platform, which listed on the London Stock Exchange. Since then, the company has branched out to four other major exchanges in Europe: Italy, Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.

Today, the company has a lineup of commodity funds covering everything from the broad market, livestock and agriculture to energy, precious metals and industrial metals. There are 129 ETCs in the lineup.

Driven by the skyrocketing price of platinum, among ETF Securities’ more popular funds is the ETFS Physical Platinum (PHPT.L). The firm also is behind several firsts, including the world’s first gold and oil ETCs. Precious metals, in fact, is one of the company’s most popular sectors, as 46% of assets are focused on them.

Agriculture is 32.3%, followed by energy at 12.1%.

ETF Securities isn’t just popular in Europe, however. McNeil told us that there is interest in the United States, too, as two-fifths of the inquiries the company receives comes from here. Unfortunately, because of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations, there isn’t much he can do about it.

“We always have to turn them away and say, ‘I can’t answer your questions,’” McNeil says.

U.S.-based investors can buy funds on other exchanges through their brokers that have the capability to do so.

They’re not immediately looking at branching out into the United States, either. “We have aspirations in the far East and Middle East. That’s where a lot of the action’s going to be. The U.S. is quite saturated,” he says.

ETCs are transparent and open-ended securities that trade on an exchange. They allow investors to get commodities exposure without dealing futures or taking delivery. Their primary difference from ETFs are that while ETFs use a fund structure, ETCs use a secured, undated, zero-coupon note structure. ETNs are 30-year debt instruments, and a promise by the provider that they will pay the investor the amount reflecting a change in the underlying index. Like ETCs, they don’t hold the physical commodity.

ETF Securities’ ETCs range in cost from a 0.39% to 0.98% expense ratio.

It’s no secret that commodities are in the midst of a bull that, according to some experts, is likely to continue for some time. ETF Securities’ lineup has no doubt benefited from developments in recent years, including:

• A booming global economy and emerging markets becoming more correlated to developed ones
• A falling U.S. dollar, as gold is negatively correlated to it
• Precious metals in general are in short supply as supply is kept tight because of few producers
• Energy and fuel prices are at record highs, including those of gas, natural gas and oil
• A global food shortage, which has driven demand for agriculture
• A global building boom, which has led to increased calls for industrial metals such as steel, platinum and silver

The $7 billion purchase of Barr Pharmaceuticals, will further cement Teva’s status as the world’s largest generic drug maker. Barr is the fourth-largest. Teva also said it’s going to expand its presence into the United States and Eastern European markets, as well.

The deal is expected to close at the end of this year, the Associated Press reports.

Teva (TEVA) is 22.5% of the iShares MSCI Israel Investable Market Index (EIS) and 8.3% of the NETS TA-25 (TAV). Both funds launched this year. EIS is up 0.8% since inception on March 28, while TAV is down 10.8% since its June 9 inception.

Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense company, says it may sell Israel some combat ships with a value of as much as $1.9 billion, report Edmond Lococo and Tony Capaccio for Bloomberg.

The U.S. Defense Department said that it was in the interest of the United States to help Israel develop and maintain a strong self-defense capability.

Some aerospace and defense ETFs could benefit:

• PowerShares Aerospace & Defense (PPA): down 17.9% year-to-date; Lockheed is 7.2%
• iShares Dow Jones U.S. Aerospace & Defense (ITA): down 19.1% year-to-date; Lockheed is 7.6%

But how come investors haven’t been lining up in droves to buy them? Most ETNs have fewer than $100 million in assets: 78 of the 89 available ones fall under that mark. The ETN marketplace collectively has $7.2 billion, however.

Ian Salisbury for the Wall Street Journal says there could be a number of possible reasons, including credit risk, complex strategies and remaining uncertainty about their tax status.

Their primary advantage is that they offer investors access to hard-to-reach areas, such as India and currencies. But some wonder if it’s just a case of too much product competing for investor attention.

Another problem is that these days, investors might be wary of the term “credit risk.” If an ETN issuer goes out of business, the investor faces a loss. And the credit crunch hasn’t inspired much confidence in the financial stability of some institutions.

When ETNs were first launched, their tax status was touted as a major advantage. But last year, the government did away with the advantages for foreign currency ETNs, and is currently weighing how they will handle other types.

We think that these issues and others are likely coming in to play. Since most of these funds have launched in the last six months, the market has been challenged in general and there’s not a lot of new money out there. Those investors who are looking for commodity exposure are likely putting their money in funds that have been established longer.

Make no mistake: there is risk, as with anything else. However, we keep in touch with providers, and we feel certain of their financial stability. When the market turns around once again, perhaps these interesting products will begin to capture the attention of more investors.

Inflation is rising the fastest it has in a decade, and the bank cautioned that more increases were possible, says Suttinee Yuvejwattana for Bloomberg. The rate is now at 3.5%.

The baht also fell on concern that the increase wasn’t going to be enough to do the trick and cool the inflation rate, which hit 8.9% last month. The rising cost of food and oil have been forcing central banks from Vietnam to Pakistan to raise borrowing costs, despite a slowdown in the United States that has cooled demand for Asian exports.

Thailand’s key stock index slid for three straight days, losing 3.4% today.

As part of an effort to help the nation’s poor, Thailand’s prime minister announced a $1.4 billion program to cut fuel taxes, offer free electricity and water and waive fares for bus and train seats.

The iShares MSCI Thailand Investable Market Index (THD) seems to reflect the ailing state of the country’s economy these days, as it’s down 25% since its April 1inception. Will the rate cuts be enough?

While some sectors have become beaten-down in recent months (hello, financials and homebuilders), others have been poster children for success, reports Roger Nusbaum for The Street. Materials and energy have been two areas that have demonstrated strong potential down the line, thanks to domestic and global demand for various commodities such as steel, oil, natural gas and more.

Among the ways to access these areas include:

• Materials Sector SPDR (XLB) is down 2.9% year-to-date, but it’s outperforming the S&P 500 by 11.3%.

• iShares S&P Global Materials Sector Index (MXI) is down 1.8% year-to-date, but could benefit down the line from its global outlook. The United States is 20.3% of the fund

• iShares Dow Jones Basic Materials (IYM) is up 2.7% year-to-date.

Selecting sectors is one of the key strategies in trend following, because as the current situation shows, while there are areas trending down for the time being, other areas are moving up. It’s just a matter of spotting them, but trust us - they’re there!

When choosing a sector, or an ETF to represent it, it is wise for investors to be aware of the current trends in the market that will help move or hinder that sector. This way, investors can move with any changes that are occurring.

These funds are currently below their 200-day moving averages, so you will want to hold off on considering them until they turn around.

The TDAX exchange traded funds (ETFs) has changed their name. The new name is TDX Independence Funds, effective immediately. Their ticker symbols, as listed on NYSE Arca, will remain the same.

A life-cycle ETF operates under the same asset allocation formula that assumes the investor will retire at a specific, pre-determined date, which is identified in the title of the fund. Over time, the portfolio’s asset allocation becomes more conservative over time so that they stay in line with their objective. These types of funds have other applications, too, such as to save money for a wedding or college.

The ETFs will be known thusly as:

• TDX Independence 2010 (TDD), down 5.6% year-to-date
• TDX Independence 2020 (TDH), down 9.7% year-to-date
• TDX Independence 2030 (TDN), down 12.4% year-to-date
• TDX Independence 2040 (TDV), down 14.3% year-to-date
• TDX Independence In-Target (TDX), up 0.4% year-to-date

The WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Fund (GULF) covers the same region as S&P’s GCC40 Index, which has no ETF yet associated with it, reports ETF Guide.

The underlying index is the WisdomTree Middle East Dividend Index, which is fundamentally weighted, and measures the companies domiciled in the region that pay regular cash dividends on shares of common stock.

One hundred companies are included, based upon market capitalization and no country represents more than 33%. At re-balancing, companies must have paid out $5 million in cash dividends for the cycle prior to the next one.

The Middle East has become one of the most attractive areas in the world for investors to access, as emerging markets become more correlated with developed ones. The Middle East, in particular, is drawing interest because of its potential for growth, as well as the fact that it has largely sat out the troubles that rising energy prices have caused around the rest of the world.

WisdomTree’s Director of Research Luciano Siracusano says that it’s the only real region where stocks have gone up uniformly in recent years.

The economies there are more than just oil, too. There’s increasing diversification in the economy, an improving legal framework, an effort made to diversify the economy and a younger urban population. The economies have also started to become integrated into global banking within the last three to five years.

Companies eligible for index inclusion must be incorporated in and have their shares listed on a major stock exchange in Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates (including Abu Dhabi and Dubai). The fund comes with an expense ratio of 0.88% and is 36% weighted in banking, followed by telecommunications (25%).

This fund is just the latest in a series to launch that offer access to the Middle East, including:

• PowerShares Frontier Portfolio (PMNA)
• Market Vectors Africa Index (AFK)
• Claymore/BNY Mellon Frontier Markets (FRN)
• iShares MSCI Israel Cap Investable Market (EIS)
• NETS TA-25 Index Fund (TAV)