Exchange trade Russian fund

[Bruce]

http://www.vaneck.com/index.cfm?cat=3192&tkr=RSX&LN=3


Expenses are lower than the Russian mutual funds with the normally high front end load. 

Something for investors to consider.  I'm thinking of putting some investment money to work on this fund.  It looks interesting.

P.S.  I do not know this fund from any other.  I just found it advertised when I clicked on my Morningstar account.  I have no fiduciary interest in it at this time. 

[Bruce]

You guys should have listened, I wish I did!

[timothe]

I don't know, Bruce.  If you're playing ETFs, generally you do it for a longer term than individual stocks unless you are a full-time trader.  As a long term investment, I wouldn't trust a Russian ETF for anything more than a highly speculative play.  And if you are going to speculate, you'll get better returns on an individual stock.

One of their major holdings is Vimpel Com (VIP) which I've had on my watch list for a while.  They are the largest mobile phone service provider in Russia.  They offer a dividend that is small, but it means they are looking out for their shareholders.  Their growth rate is good in comparison to their stock price.  If you felt the urge to play the market with Russian companies, I would recommend VIP over the ETF. 

However, you must remember that it is the institutional buyer that moves the market and they will bail at the first sign of corruption or any other kind of bad news.  It's very easy to predict some kind of governmental power grab by Putin in the near future which would absolutely kill the value of these Russian stocks.  I think there's too much risk right now for the potential reward.  If you had to play a country outside the USA, I would play Canada.  Seriously.